The Frost King
by Kineil D. Wicks
Summary: The village of Frostmore, bound in ice and snow, is all Yugi and his friend Willow has ever known. But all attempts to leave have met with failure—because if the cold doesn't get you, the predators will. And everyone knows that the way out is guarded by the monstrous Frost King….
1. Part I - Frostmore

**Hello, and welcome to this chilly _Yu-Gi-Oh!/Don't Starve_ crossover. We hope you dress warmly and enjoy your stay. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi listened to the wind howl.

He sat in the communal hall, with the other families of Frostmore, weathering yet another dreary storm. He rocked back and blew into the air; a trail of smoke went, regardless of the burning fire in the huge fireplace. It wasn't Yugi's turn in the sphere of warmth; he had to wait to cycle in and get away from the cold stone walls and snow-choked small windows. Meantime, he snuggled tight in his coat and scarf, pulled his googly-eyed hat down tight with his mittened hands, squished between his mom and grandfather beneath three blankets. He could hear Pegasus complain to his wife about his paints freezing.

Yugi eyed Ushio, the nearer of the guards walking around, and debated walking up and asking him about being bumped up the queue. He doubted it—he had asked Ushio before, and he had been turned down. It didn't matter that it was just him and his mom and his sickly grandfather—they had to wait their turn. He watched Ushio nudge Joey, who started an argument. He could hear it from where he sat: no, he wasn't going to move—his sister needed to stay by the heat. Ushio said something to him and walked off. Joey said something to his sister and headed for the door.

Yugi knew what that meant: wood duty.

He looked up to see Ushio looking down at him.

"Yugi, wood duty," Ushio said briefly.

The good news was, this meant his family was bumped up on the list. The bad news was, Yugi had to go out in the bitter cold and get more wood. But the sooner he left, the sooner he'd get back. He crawled out from the blankets and ran over to where Joey was.

Ushio went out with them, to make sure nothing happened. After they got over the bracing cold, he walked a few paces behind Joey and Yugi, shotgun tucked under his arm.

They rounded a corner and stopped. Joey swore under his breath, chattering teeth making him unintelligible.

No wood.

Ushio spotted this, handed them a couple of hatchets. "You know the drill: go chop down another tree."

They were ready to head to the old spot when Ushio stopped them. "Not there; we've got all the trees there."

They looked in the other direction. They were surrounded by mountains, but the one in particular was frightening and looming, for one specific reason: it was the home of the Frost King.

"I'm not going that way," Joey said bluntly.

"Don't be stupid," Ushio said. "I'm going to do a perimeter check. Don't go too far in."

"You don't have to worry about that," Joey muttered as Ushio marched off. He and Yugi trudged up the mountainside.

As they went, Yugi couldn't help but think of everything he had heard of the Frost King. A monster with spider legs and a bulky, furry body; sharp teeth and antlers; that ran like a deer and struck like a bear; whose breath froze people in their tracks. Yugi didn't want to run into this thing.

"What if we run into the Frost King?" Yugi asked, fear making him quiet.

"Now _you're_ being stupid," Joey snapped, although Yugi could tell he was nervous too.

They stopped by a tallish pine. "This one looks about right; it's all piney," Joey said, unshouldering his bow and quiver. "Keep an eye out, will you?"

Yugi did so, hoping he meant for Ushio, or worse, ice wolves. Or maybe for a deer—that would be good for a day or two.

The snowy landscape was quiet, the absence of sound deafening him. Yugi jumped as Joey began hacking away at the tree. Yugi scolded himself for being so jumpy and focused on keeping an eye out for…whatever.

Snow fell thickly. Yugi marveled at the thick, deep sound it made as snow settled on itself. How could something so soft sound so heavy?

Crunch.

Footsteps?

Yugi glanced around quickly. Joey was still absorbed in chopping, more snow falling, shaken from the tree. Yugi didn't see Ushio—a perimeter check shouldn't take that long, right?

The footsteps were too quick for Ushio, anyway. Yugi recognized the pacing.

"Joey. _Joey,_" Yugi hissed, tapping Joey on the back. Joey paused in his work and looked at him. "I think I hear a deer."

The effect was instantaneous. Joey dropped the hatchet and snatched up his bow and arrow. He wasn't the best shot in the world, but he wasn't the worst—they had a fair shot.

They glanced around, Yugi fretfully, Joey behind his arrow. The footsteps were getting louder.

"This thing is starting to scare me," Joey muttered. Yugi could understand. The footsteps sounded like they were coming from all over, and the snow was masking all movement. The deer could bound right in front of them and they'd never—

Yugi spotted it.

It wasn't a deer.

He had only seen it for a second, but in that second, he could see that the movement, the body structure, the color, was _wrong,_ all wrong for a deer. It was barrel-chested and lanky-legged, pacing appropriate for a mix of wolf-deer-rabbit, frosty blue….

The Frost King. He was here.

"Joey," Yugi hissed.

"What, Yug'?"

"I think," Yugi breathed. "I think I saw the Frost King."

"You're being silly," Joey hissed, but his grip tightened; he was looking forward to a shot at the beast threatening them, but he also knew the likelihood of success if he did. His life expectancy would become extremely short.

More crunching. "There," Yugi pointed. Joey aimed accordingly.

Dark, lumbering….This wasn't the Frost King. "Wait a minute, Joey."

"You're kidding me."

"I don't think that's—Ushio!"

He had never been so glad to see the guard in his life. "What do you mooks think you're doing?" Ushio growled, spotting the arrow aimed at his chest. "You're supposed to be chopping wood!"

"I saw the Frost King," Yugi blurted.

To his credit, Ushio didn't immediately scoff at the notion. Instead, he was all business, readying his gun and quietly issuing orders.

"Pick up that hatchet Yugi. Joey, keep that bow drawn."

They did so. "What about the tree?" Yugi asked.

"Forget it."

They did so. Quickly, they headed back for town. Once there, Ushio led the way to one of the houses.

Yugi paused. "That's the Johansens' house."

"It is," Ushio said, grabbing a chair and dashing it against the wall. "They haven't shown up for days—general consensus is they made a break for the Pass."

The Pass was supposedly the only way down from the mountains. No one who had tried it had ever returned. "Maybe they made it," Yugi said quietly, disbelieving it even as he said it.

Ushio said nothing about it. "Pick those pieces up—we can burn them for now."

"What about later?" Joey asked.

"We can hope the Frost King finds something else to entertain himself."


	2. The Frost King

**Chapter 2, and we see the Frost King. Who is he? We shall soon find out….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Bound bound bound—through the snow-deadened forest. Trees whipped by in blurs. Snow fell deafeningly. The world was crisp and sharp, and he was hypersensitive to it all.

He sensed a hill up ahead, poured on the speed, and made a great leap at the crest, rolling into the bottom with glee. It was good to be him.

He looked up to see a rabbit staring at him, frozen with shock. He greeted it, baring his teeth in a smile.

Instantly the rabbit was down its hole. He shrugged and continued on, dashing through the snow. _Dashing through the snow_. It felt as though a song was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't name it or place it. He disregarded it and barked out a laugh instead, head held high as he ran.

He paused by a rocky outcropping near the mountain face. Snow was beginning to fall more thickly now. It had almost filled in the footprints—

Footprints?

He examined them closely. Not wolf not deer not bear not—these belonged to those strange beings in the wood-and-rock piles. Opinions were varied and strange on the beings, but he himself had a pleasant opinion of them. They were fascinating. They were interesting.

And they were heading for the Pass.

He followed the prints at a leisurely pace. These beings couldn't move through the snow like he could. He would overtake them soon enough.

And indeed he did, finding them lying in the snow. He looked, poked, prodded…sat back on his haunches. Dead, cold, unmoving.

Three, lying in the snow, facing the Pass. He glanced in the direction they were heading. Nothing but deep, foggy snow, impossible to navigate for anything but him. But it had never held any interest for him. What was out there, that these beings kept killing themselves to try to find?

Small heartbeat. Faint. He looked to the one in the center, smaller than the others. Still alive. Barely.

He gently scooped it up, turned it on its back. Fluttering heart. He closed his eyes and put his head to its chest. He thought of something that it could be, that could let it live….

When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer holding one of the beings. Instead, he had turned it into something that could handle the cold.

Its eyes fluttered open, looked at him. A small fluffy owlet, barely able to fit in one palm.

He smiled at it gently. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," it squeaked breathily.

He clutched it to his chest, as gently as he could. He knew where to take it so it could be taken care of.

He bounded away on two legs, ignoring the cold dead laying in the snow.

He'd come for them later.

* * *

The owls were nestled in their hollow, deep asleep, somehow able to tell even in snow-fog that it was day. He felt guilty for waking them, but he knew they'd appreciate what he'd brought them. They had tried to have chicks before, but a cold snap had taken the eggs.

Somehow, he felt guilty for that as well.

The owls blinked open at his insistence. The male reacted first. "Yami!"

Yami—for that was his name—bared his teeth in a grin. They didn't look nor sound angry or cross with him—rather, they sounded genuinely pleased to see him. "Boreal! Cirrus! How're you doing?"

"Sleepy," Cirrus—the female—responded. She yawned and fluffed her snowy feathers. "You can't wait until dusk, can you?"

"I have something for you."

Boreal perked at this. "Oh, I hope it's a vole."

"No, better."

"Rabbit."

Yami lifted up his hand and unfurled his long fingers. Cirrus reacted first, a happy coo undulating from her.

"It's so, so….Come here, little one," she stammered, letting Yami deposit it into their nest. She snuggled the owlet into a bundle of down and preened it as Yami explained what happened to Boreal. When he finished, Boreal shook his head sagely.

"I swear, those…_Others_," he said, settling on the owl term for the beings. "Have no sense in their heads. If I had no feathers-no fur, I wouldn't go _near_ any cold. Foolish creatures." He turned to look at the owlet, now tucked in with Cirrus. "Will he remember…?"

"I don't think so," Yami said. "Maybe."

Boreal shook his head again, fixed Yami with his yellow eyes. "Thank you," he said. "We won't forget this, honest we won't."

Yami shrugged, made a few non-committal movements—he didn't want them to think they were in debt to him. But when he left, he couldn't help but feel all glowy inside from helping them.

Later, he returned to the cold dead. He took the packs and took the clothes, and anything else of theirs that wasn't attached—they weren't going to use them anymore, and no one else he knew had any use for them. He took them back home, then stopped by Svaren's cave.

Svaren was curled up in a nice warm pocket, feigning sleep. Yami knew better. "Svaren!" he called.

"Hibernating. Go avay."

"What if you didn't hibernate on an empty stomach?"

"Not interested if smaller than vwolf."

"Okay, but my next stop is the wolves. _They'll_ be interested, I'm sure."

Svaren lifted his head. "Interested in vwat?"

Svaren had that peculiar way of saying W-words. Yami often found himself imitating that after speaking to him. "Slightly-frozen meat, already peeled."

Svaren knew what that meant. "Stupid two-legs," he grumbled, standing. The white bear lumbered out. "Not know not go out in cold."

"_You're_ out in the cold."

"Have good reason." Svaren examined him with sleepy bear eyes. "You stupid too. Run round all the time then eat rabbit-food."

"I eat meat sometimes." Although he preferred it as anything but raw, for some reason.

"You don't eat enough. That vwy so thin."

Yami huffed, but Svaren was already heading down the mountain to the Pass. "Svaren?" he called.

"Da?"

"What am I?"

Svaren turned to look at him. "Vwat?"

"I don't think I'm a bear or deer or wolf or owl."

Svaren gave it some thought, then continued down the mountain. "You are Yamir," he said, using his peculiar way of saying Yami's name. "You stupid but smart. Is why you're only one of kind here."

Yami gave it some thought. Looked up at the gunmetal gray sky.

Suddenly, he didn't want to be alone.


	3. Wolves

**And now for Chapter 3….I recommend reading _The Age of Fire_ series by E.E. Knight, by the way—the wolves in _Dragon Champion_ are what I base the wolves here on.**

**WhiteNaomi, Thanks for the review and the follow! I hope I can continue to entertain. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Silver-Fang and Moon-Back were surveying some pups rolling around in the snow, trying to get them into the den when Yami swung by. They looked up with delight.

"Yami-friend!" Silver-Fang greeted—wolves always greeted those they liked with that term (family was "kin" enemy was "foe"). The pups charged Yami, and he had a good few moments dashing around them till they were dizzy.

"Yami-friend come in?" Moon-Back inquired. "We-pack caught deer today—sleep soundly tonight."

Yami gave it some thought. "I wouldn't mind coming in."

"You talk funny, Yami-friend," Silver-Fang observed. "You must have been talking to Svaren-bear again."

Said so because Svaren was neither friend nor foe. "I have." Yami gave some thought before speaking again. "What would you say I am?"

They were in the den now—the whole pack gave this some thought. "You are Yami-friend-almost-kin," Tree-Bark announced from the back. The rest readily agreed.

This wasn't really an answer as far as Yami was concerned. He was beginning to think he was as peculiar as the beings in the valley.

One of the pups was digging greedily into the remains of the deer. "Don't stuff yourself!" Swift-Foot scolded. "You'll get fat and lazy."

"I'll get swift from eating deer!" the pup countered.

"You get swift from much running," Swift-Foot countered. "You eat nothing but deer and you'll sprout antlers like Yami-friend."

The nearby pups all looked at Yami. "Is this true, Yami-friend?"

Yami gave this some thought; he could see the jest in Swift-Foot's face. "No," he said finally. "There's a very strange beast far in the deep-mountains called a 'Yamir'," said thinking of Svaren. "You can't reach it unless you can run fast and far without rest, many moons from here. If you eat _that_, _then_ you'd look like me."

The pups all _ooo_ed accordingly.

"See Yami-friend?" Silver-Fang asked. "You answered your own question!"

Moon-Back nipped Silver-Fang as the pups swarmed Yami, each claiming that _they'd_ be the one to track down this fearsome Yamir and become the strongest. Yami squirmed away from them and pounced around as well as the den would allow.

"That's enough, pups!" Sharp-Tooth, one of the older dams, barked. "You don't want to work up our guest Yami-friend."

The pups made disappointed noises, but Yami realized that his antics had made the temperature drop in the den. He had never been bothered by cold, had never really _felt_ it, but in that moment he realized he could make his wolf-friends freeze to death in their sleep. "I should go anyway," he said, making his goodbyes and ducking out of the den.

Outside, he looked up again. The storm was beginning to clear.

"Yami-friend." Yami turned to see Moon-Back sitting at the entrance. Yami waited politely. "You made that up for the pups, didn't you?"

"How did you know?"

"Because 'Yamir' is what Svaren-bear calls you." Moon-Back padded over to him. "What's wrong? Worry-smell clings to you."

Yami looked up at the sky again. "I don't know what I am."

Moon-Back gave him a gentle lick. "You are Yami-friend-almost-kin, only so because you aren't wolf."

Yami sighed. That wasn't the answer he was looking for.

"You still worry," Moon-Back observed.

"Not-quite-worry," Yami corrected.

Moon-Back considered. "Stay," she requested. "You would not chill the den if you didn't move too much."

"No, I've got to go."

And he did.

"Good-hunt, Yami-friend, whatever it is."


	4. Exploring

**Chapter 4, and a bit more Frost King….**

**WhiteNaomi, thanks for the review! Yes, they are quite cute—would that make it a fluff chapter?...**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yami didn't want to go back home just yet. Home was past Svaren's cave, and he didn't think Svaren was finished yet.

So instead, he went down to the wood-and-rock piles, to see if he could peek in on the beings.

He needn't have bothered. They were all in the main pile, he could tell by the smoke coming out of the top. The rest were abandoned now—fair picking.

He poked around until he found one with a door that pushed in without difficulty. He went in, bent nearly double to fit indoors, and looked around.

He found a few odds and ends that interested him. He picked them up and continued, looking for one of those things that the beings stored food in. He found one, figured out how to open it. Nothing. Mildly disappointed, he finished his search and moved on to the next house.

He couldn't help it—it was a compulsion. He was always ravenously curious—that was his nature. He couldn't help but pick up every knickknack that caught his fancy, even though they did nothing but collect frost back home. When he saw it, he wanted it, wanted to learn about it.

Unfortunately, everyone he knew had conflicting information on the beings. Svaren said they were stupid. The owls had a similar opinion, but then again, they were mildly disdainful of anyone without wings (Yami was exempt, with his frost-webbed wings). The wolves had a neutral opinion of the beings, saying they were two-leg-wolf-things that had enough sense to hunt and den together. The deer had a negative view of them, saying they were evil things that could kill by looking. The snow-birds said they ate like deer, berries and roots and nuts. Yami had never been able to get an opinion out of the rabbits—but then again, he never had conversations with rabbits. The foxes had no opinion that Yami trusted.

His ears perked. Footsteps crunching.

"The tracks lead this way."

"It's in the Van Burgs' house."

Stupid. He was light on his feet in the snow but not that light. A sharp eye could track his progress. And here he was, stuck in one of the piles with no way out—

Wait. There was a thing where they burned wood. And if they burned wood, there must be a way for the smoke to get out.

He stuck his head in, extending his senses to see if he could fit. He could, barely. He tested a few ways before he settled on the best way to squish through. He scrambled up, frost forming wherever he touched. He couldn't tarry—the frost would build and trap him. He popped out the top and looked around quickly.

"There!"

He bounded in the other direction as a horrible resounding _crack_ sounded—that killer look the deer described. He didn't linger.

Soon, he was deep in the forest, far from where the beings dared go at night. But now they would be on guard for a while.

He gritted his teeth in frustration and headed home. No need to hurry. No one was waiting for him.

Somehow, that made him feel worse.


	5. Yugi and the Deer

**Welcome to Chapter 5 of _The Frost King_—and there's Yugi again! Wonderful. And the first hint of some _Don't Starve_ characters—it _is_ a crossover, after all.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi woke up in a mass of bundled bodies.

Cycling had been foregone last night after the Frost King had been sighted within town. The fire had been built up as hot as they could stand, and everyone tucked up as close as they could. No one touched the walls for fear of the Frost King's cold bite.

Yugi sat up—properly warm for once, until he hit the cold air above the bodies—and looked out one of the narrow windows. It was blindingly bright—the storm had blown itself out. Time for as much gathering as everyone could stand.

That was the guards' opinions as well. Soon everyone was up, drinking stimulating cups of coffee, and then bundled outside to gather as much as possible.

Yugi was on berry duty. He could handle that. Sort of. After all, it didn't take much to track down Willow, who was on tree-shaving duty and hated it, and convince her to swap jobs. Had her ward Wilson been around, things would have been different, but Wilson was busy with Joey and Tristan, focused on a major breakthrough with his contraption.

Yugi stripped a tree of all its low-lying branches as he thought. A boiler, Wilson had called it, which would melt snow and use the steam to heat the entire communal hall, walls and all. It was a nice dream, he supposed.

Speaking of dreams….

Yugi looked to the Pass. He wondered if the Johansens had made it. Beyond the pass, where warm weather prevailed. He doubted it.

He thought of the stories his grandfather told him, of how the original inhabitants of Frostmore were explorers from a hot country, how they had settled in the valley and subsequently been snowed in, never to leave. Yugi had asked why they had stayed. He had gotten some noncommittal answer about waiting for their king.

That was silly. The only king in these parts was the Frost King. They _certainly_ weren't waiting for _him_.

He had once asked about, wondering if anyone really knew anything about the Frost King. He had finally gotten an answer; Pegasus' sickly wife, Cecilia, had sat him down and told him a story of the Frost King.

"Long ago," she had began. Those were always the best beginnings to a story. No one ever started a story with _last year_.

Long ago, snow and frost and the best of all the snow-bound animals had given their powers to form one being that would protect the mountains. The being awoke under a starry night with the aurora borealis shining above. And that was how the Frost King was born.

Ushio had promptly ruined it by saying that it apparently didn't consider humans amongst the snow-bound. Others filled in the sharp claws, frost-webbed wings, pointy antlers that put deer to shame, razor-teeth, and the strange blue flame that burned in its eyes and erupted from a point on its forehead. Not to mention the fact that it stood taller than a white bear.

Yugi retreated back to the hall, deposited his load, and rushed back out for more before someone realized he brought in the wrong thing.

He wandered and wondered for a while, stripping trees as he went. He spotted one with a full set of branches and aimed for it.

As he rounded it, he saw a deer.

He froze. It froze.

In that moment, he felt guilty for eating deer. It was beautiful, a silky silver color with a full rack curving up, two full branches on a living being. Its dark eyes considered Yugi with fear and uncertainty; what was he going to do?

Yugi breathed out slowly. The practical aspect of him said that that was a good few days worth of food in front of him.

In practice, he slowly backed away and crouched, making himself smaller. The deer, finally convinced, slowly trotted away.

Yugi smiled, glad he had seen that.

He continued on his way, unaware that the forest creatures were watching. Now, they were considering.

* * *

"I saw a deer today," he told his folks that night.

"That's nice," his mom said, ruffling his hair through his hat.

"It was beautiful."

"They are."

"I wish we didn't eat them."

"You can't live on berries alone."

"Rabbits do."

"Rabbits are much smaller than you."

Yugi looked balefully at the deer cooking in the fire. He couldn't help but wonder if it was the same deer he had seen.

"You don't have to eat it if you don't want to."

"Boy has to eat," his grandfather said gruffly.

Yugi sighed. He decided to switch tactics.

"What did you eat in the warm country, grandpa?"

Now it was his mother's turn to sigh; his grandfather cut into the new topic with gusto, describing so many mouthwatering foods Yugi was convinced they didn't exist.

Later, Yugi slept snug between his mom and grandfather, warm bellyful of food keeping the cold at bay. He dreamt of strange snow beasts, antlers like the deer's curling above a blue flame.


	6. Lost

**Chapter 6, and events will be event-ing now. In addition: Wilson alert with a side of _A Bug's Life _reference thrown in. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Another clear day.

This time, Willow was the one who tracked him down for the job swap. Yugi didn't argue—he hated food-gathering.

Unfortunately, he had to go farther out today—anyone able-bodied was out getting wood or food, and anything nearby had already been stripped and prepped for chopping. So, it followed that he had to go off to the woods close to the Frost King's mountain.

He stared at the mountain. He didn't want to go that way. Not after the other day. But if they caught him loitering around, he'd be in trouble. So, with no small amount of hesitation, he headed further in.

He became more comfortable as time went on with no sightings. He went through the forest, stripping trees as he went, until—

"Yaah!"

"Waugh!"

Yugi stumbled back. He had inadvertently run into Wilson, out doing…who knew what at this point. He looked like he was digging up rocks. Behind him, Willow stood with a basket of sticks, laughing at them both.

"What are you doing out this far?" Wilson demanded, recovering first.

"I could ask you the same question," Yugi retorted. "Why are you collecting rocks?"

"It's for the boiler," Wilson announced, affecting that self-impressive stance he got when he talked about anything science-y. "I can refine them down to stone blocks and go from there."

Yugi and Willow exchanged a silent conversation with grimaces and eye-rolls. Wilson glowered when he noticed.

"Fine. Be that way. I notice you didn't answer my question."

"Tree-stripping."

Wilson waved at the mountain. "You're hanging around too close to the mountain. The Frost King will come after you."

"What does he look like?" Willow asked. "So we know when we see him."

Yugi mouthed a silent thank-you as Wilson turned his attention to this new subject.

"Big and hairy, with huge antlers and one glowing eye in its head," Wilson said, curling his fingers as he described. "Long lanky limbs that end in fur and claws, unimpeded by snow. We shouldn't be here," Wilson said suddenly, looking about.

"What's the matter, Wilson?" Willow asked. "Did you scare yourself?"

But Yugi had felt it too. A sudden drop in temperature. Common consensus was that it was the Frost King coming. Practice showed that it was a storm instead.

Wilson pulled out a miniature rainometer (which he said predicted potential precipitation) and examined it. "We have maybe an hour," he announced, putting it back into his pocket. "We'd better get back."

"I'm going to fill my basket before I do," Yugi said.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"I won't take that long."

"Then we're going with you."

"No," Yugi said slowly. "You're heading back now. You're carrying _rocks_. You'll sink in the snow."

Wilson was obviously torn; he didn't like the idea of leaving Yugi by himself.

Yugi glanced at Willow and gave her a look. She translated it and acted accordingly.

"C'mon, Wilson," Willow said, tugging on Wilson's arm. "Yugi can take care of himself."

Yugi nodded. "See? Willow knows what she's talking about."

Wilson still had that look on his face, but it was swaying over to acceptance. Yugi decided to take advantage of this.

"I'll be back in twenty minutes, tops," he said, getting ready to sprint off.

"Hold on before you do," Wilson said, digging into his pocket again. "Here, take this."

Yugi accepted Wilson's offering, weighing the round object in his hand. "Thank you….It's a rock."

"No, it's the latest in a series of scientific breakthroughs," Wilson corrected.

Yugi exchanged glances with Willow again. She shrugged. "So…it's a round rock."

"It's a heat stone," Wilson corrected. "It helps to keep one toasty."

Yugi examined it again. "It's kind of warm and cuddly," Yugi admitted. "For a rock."

"_I know it's a rock!"_ Wilson exploded. "Don't you think I know a rock when I see a rock? I spend a lot of time around _rocks!_"

Yugi and Willow had a good laugh at his expense. "Come on, Wilson," Willow said, tugging on his arm again.

Wilson finally relented. Yugi waved goodbye and headed in the other direction. Amid see-you-laters came a common warning:

"Beware the Frozen Hart!"

Yugi pictured the Frost King's antlers, as described by everyone.

Beware indeed.

Yugi continued stripping trees, on a roll now. Wilson was right—the rock (_heat stone_, he corrected himself)—was keeping him pretty toasty. He hummed everyone's warning tune as he worked, oblivious to everything around him.

Which was why he was startled by a snowflake falling right in front of him.

Yugi glanced around in a panic. Snow was starting to fall thickly now; the storm had come.

He ran for home, but realized that he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. He couldn't backtrack, for the snow was filling in his footprints. He was lost.

Yugi was in a full-blown panic now. He couldn't stop. He had to keep running. If he stopped, he gave up, and if he gave up, he was dead.

He tripped over a hidden branch and went tumbling down a steep hill. He came to a halt at the bottom, facedown.

He didn't move.

* * *

A cardinal flitted by, red feathers a flash of flame in the cold.

A few moments later, it returned, hopping to the inert form in the snow.

The cardinal examined the figure steadily disappearing in the snow. He recognized it as that boy, the one who had been enraptured by the deer, but hadn't killed it.

The cardinal—by dint of being a cardinal—gave it more thought than a bird of another kind would give. He came to a decision, lofted into the air, circled the boy once, then flew off in search of the one who could repair this.

The Frost King.


	7. The Other

**Chapter 7, ladies and gents! We hope you're enjoying your stay and staying nice and toasty while doing so, and we hope you're having a wonderful winter thus far. :)**

**"Churring" is a term to describe owl laughter, by the way, and comes from the series _Guardians of Ga'Hoole_ by Kathryn Lasky. Go check it out—it's a good series. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yami was checking in on Boreal and Cirrus when the cardinal found him.

"Cardinal-friend!" they greeted, the standard greeting used.

"Friends," the cardinal said, landing on a branch. He turned to Yami.

"There is a being in the snow—one of the Others."

Yami blinked. "Did another one run for the Pass?"

The cardinal shook his head. "No. I think he got lost in the storm and fell down a hill."

Yami tilted his head. "You should do something," the cardinal pressed.

"Like what?" Yami asked, one of those long claw-fingers up to his mouth, concerned.

The cardinal shrugged and looked to the owls for help. Boreal looked at Cirrus, who had an owlet tucked beneath her wing.

"Take it home and feed it?" Cirrus suggested.

"What do Others eat?" Boreal asked.

"Rabbits, deer and berries," the cardinal said promptly.

"Better head out and catch some then."

A little _churr_ing came from the owlet. "Humans eat soup, silly."

They all turned to the owlet; the cardinal wondered how such a little owlet would know such a thing.

"What else?" Yami prompted.

"They keep warm with a fire," the owlet said, thinking. "And…blankets? They don't eat raw meat, that's for sure."

They exchanged glances; the cardinal noted that the glance between Yami and the owls held more meaning—what was going on?

"What kind of berries?"

"Red ones."

"I know the ones," the cardinal offered.

"I can get the rabbits," Boreal offered.

"All right," Yami said, then to the owlet, "thanks."

He turned to the older birds.

"Cardinal-friend, I need you to show me the Other."

* * *

Yami followed the cardinal, keeping an eye on his fiery red plumage.

As he followed, he pondered.

What could have possessed one of those beings to run about in a snowstorm? Normally they retreated into their stone-and-wood piles. And why had the cardinal gone to him instead of the wolves or Sven?

He posed the question.

The cardinal fluttered, as though considering stopping, then pressed on.

"This one is not like the others," the cardinal said simply.

Yami tilted his head at this. What did that mean?

He continued on. He would find out when he got there.


	8. The Lair of the Frost King

**Chapter 8, ladies and gents~ We're making progress….**

**Whenever reactions to freezing cold crop up, it's pretty certain that I'm referencing Jack London, who wrote many stories about the Yukon and the effects such bitter cold has. Which also means that in retrospect, everyone should be wrapped up so tight we can't see them….Ah, artistic liberties….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The cardinal finally came to a halt near a pile of snow.

Yami could sense the heartbeat coming from the pile. He brushed the snow away with his long fingers to find—yes, indeed, one of the Others, somewhere between the three from the other day in size. He cradled the being in his arms and dashed for the first place he could think of that was out of the storm.

Home.

It was easy to get to, for him, and ironically was very near that Pass that these beings kept trying to get through. It was chock-full of the assorted junk he had collected from the beings over the years, so it wasn't hard to bundle up the little being in a load of blankets and collect together the things needed for making soup.

It was a bit harder getting the wood for it all, but he was able to guilt Lief into giving him some.

He had just figured out how to work the flint, and was about to light the wood, when his actions gave him pause.

He had never been near fire before, and had no idea what the effect would be on him. Would he melt? Would he catch fire? Sicken? Die?

He looked at the being again. Pictured it sickening and dying from _lack_ of heat.

He started the fire.

He dashed outside when he heard Boreal's deep hooting, found that the cardinal had brought a bunch of berries and nuts, found that Boreal had enlisted an unwilling Svaren's help in skinning the rabbit (since that was what the owlet said and the owlet needed his first fur ceremony anyway).

The soup was shortly started, and—after everyone else went home—all Yami could do was settle down away from the fire and wait for the being to wake up.

He settled down amongst his odds and ends, out of the direct line of sight, so as to not startle the being when it woke up. He wasn't sure what to expect. Would it be like him? Like the wolves? Like the bears? Like the deer's opinion of the beings? Like what?

Time wore on, and the being still didn't wake up (although its heartbeat was getting stronger). Yami, despite his excitement, eventually grew drowsy (from the fire, perhaps?), and dozed off.

He wondered when it would wake up.

* * *

Yugi slowly swam back to consciousness, warm and drowsy. He really didn't want to wake up, and hoped it was snowing outside, so he wouldn't be made to collect wood again. He liked being warm. He liked being tucked in and dozing. He curled up tighter, willing himself to go back to sleep.

Some small corner of his mind told him that people freezing to death often felt the same way.

Yugi sat up with a start.

And glanced around, concerned.

He wasn't outside, steadily freezing to death, that was sure. He wasn't home, either. This was….

It looked like a cave made of ice, with a tunnel off to his left. A fire burned merrily in front of him, illuminating the cave and making it glisten. The place was chock-full of stuff, from blankets to forks to pans to—even a couple of sleds!

One of them looked very much like the Johansens' sled. That made Yugi worry.

He stood up, shedding the tangle of blankets, looking around. He didn't think he wanted to meet whatever or whoever lived in this cave. He headed for that tunnel, pausing briefly by the pot simmering on the little fire. It smelled like rabbit stew, and was very tempting….

He headed for the tunnel.

It turned a bend into a smaller, darker cave…and stopped completely.

Yugi glanced about this smaller cave. It looked like a den for something….There was a pile of blankets and clothes in the middle, with an indentation where something slept. Shelves were carved into the ice, where various knickknacks were stored.

Yugi looked closer at the shelves. They looked scratched out. The stuff that filled them was toys and other brightly colored items, things that would attract someone's attention easily.

And everything was covered with frost.

Yugi felt a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. A cave of ice with no way out, frost coating everything….He was in the lair of the Frost King.

It was in this moment of realization that he heard a soft noise behind him. He spun around to see the entrance to the other cave blocked by something tall and furry.


	9. Face-to-Face

**Chapter 9, ladies and gents! Sorry for the fake-out, if you were fast enough to catch it—my document renumbered itself on me (it pays to know your story—that was how I caught it).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yami woke up to find the being gone.

He sat up and looked about—it couldn't have gotten far. Yami was the only one who could easily go in and out of the cave. It must just be looking around.

He walked over to his bed area to find that yes, it was up and about, and looking at his things on the shelves. He noted that it walked on its hind legs. Intrigued, he sat back on his haunches and stood up in imitation. He was surprised to find that it came easy to him, although four-legged still served him better, he thought. He cleared his throat, prompting the being to turn.

* * *

Yugi froze.

Not literally—at least, not yet. But this being…it must be the Frost King. There was nothing else it could have been. It was tall, with thin limbs, blue, antlers scraping against the icy ceiling. Frosty blue fur formed a huge ruff about its neck and shoulders, with more fur around its wrists. Long fingers ending in black claws, large feet built for running on snow, swishing tail….

Strangely, the face was fairly human—it was longer than average, and had short fur and fuzz on it, and of course there was that strange third eye spouting blue flame (although from here, it looked carved in), but the face was humanesque. The hair was shades of blue spiked up, with pale yellow bolts of lightning for bangs—hair very similar to Yugi's own.

Yugi decided not to think about that. He had more important things to worry about.

The Frost King was lowering its head, nostrils quivering, icy blue eyes staring, wolflike ears twitching forward—if Yugi didn't know any better, he'd think that it was sizing him up to eat him.

It took a step forward.

Yugi took a step back—

And slipped on a particularly slick spot of ice.

"Augh!" Yugi cried as he fell. "No please don't eat me!"

* * *

Yami's ears perked up.

_Oh, so that's what they talk like,_ he thought. He hadn't been sure about that—as far as he knew, the beings in the valley only had two eyes, not four, so he wasn't sure if this one was some sort of subspecies or something like that.

Whatever it said when it slipped and fell came out as a blurb, but Yami was pretty sure it said something about eating. "There's some soup in that pot over there," Yami said, gesturing with his head.

The way the being was looking at him reminded him of a rabbit. He hoped the conversation wasn't going to be like that.

It occurred to him that he was standing in the way. He stepped to one side, feeling slightly awkward on two legs. The being matched his movements, pressed against the opposite wall. When he was opposite the tunnel, the being bolted down it.

Yami resumed his four-legged gait as he followed it, interested. When he got to the other cave, he found the being at the far end, frantically scrambling through the assorted stuff and apparently searching for something.

It found whatever it was looking for; it pressed its back against the far wall and held out something long and shiny, stiff-armed. Yami went closer, curious as to what it had.

"Don't come near me!" it barked, squeakily. Yami stopped and tilted his head.

"Where am I?" it squeaked. "Why am I here?"

Yami glanced about and gave this some thought, although the answers were pretty straightforward. "You're in my home," he said carefully, feeling that the being needed to be addressed in a certain way at this juncture. "I brought you here. You were freezing to death in the snow."


	10. Questions

**Chapter 10, ladies and gents! I do believe this is the longest chapter for this to date—mostly because normally, when I hit three pages, I start looking for a place to bail.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi was pretty sure his heart stopped just then.

He had been dying? And the Frost King…had _saved_ him?

He wavered, then lowered the knife he had found.

The Frost King tilted its head, then sat down on its haunches. It tipped its head to the pot simmering on the fire. Yugi got the message and sat down on the blankets by the fire, keeping the knife close, just in case.

The Frost King settled down similar to a dog or wolf as Yugi lifted the lid on the pot. The stew smelled delicious, and had shortly permeated the cave with its aroma. The rabbit in the stew had cooked quite thoroughly.

Yugi glanced around for a spoon or something to eat the stew with, but didn't see anything handy. He picked up the knife and used it to fish out a piece of meat.

He tried very hard not to look at the Frost King, which was watching him very closely. It was making him nervous—he still hadn't shaken the thought that it was going to eat him.

"What are you doing?" it asked abruptly when Yugi blew on the meat.

"Uh," Yugi noised, startled. "I'm blowing on the meat to cool it."

The Frost King seemed extremely interested in this fact. Yugi ate, still worried about the strange being in front of him.

It gave him some peace for a few moments, making the next time it spoke equally as startling.

"What are you?"

Yugi had never had that question asked of him before. "I'm Yugi," he said, unsure of what it wanted. "I'm a human."

Those wolf ears swiveled again. "So what am I?"

Yugi stared openly. What kind of question was that?

Its expression looked sincere, though. "You're the Frost King," Yugi said slowly. "Aren't you?"

It tilted its head, giving Yugi's statement some thought. Suddenly, it dipped its head. "Yeah, I like that!" it said excitedly.

Yugi blinked. He wasn't expecting that.

The Frost King hopped up and dashed over to a pile of junk. Yugi watched, confused.

It came back, holding something up. "What is this?"

Yugi stared. "That's a hammer," he said finally.

"What does it do?"

"You use it to hit things—like nails—"

"What are nails?"

"They're things that hold wood together," Yugi said, holding up his still-mittened hands. "Listen, how about I ask a question, and then _you_ ask a question, and we'll go from there?"

"Okay," the Frost King said. It reached over and grabbed another thing. "What is this?"

Yugi looked. "That's a rubber duck. People bathe with it in the tub."

"Why?"

Yugi didn't know. "To test for sharks. Weren't we going to alternate questions?"

"Oh yeah. You get another one."

Well, at least it was keeping track. "Who are you?"

"You already said—I'm a Frost King." It reached over and grabbed another thing. "What is this?"

"That's a tent stake. What I mean is, what's your name? Like mine's Yugi…."

"Oh. My name is Yami," the Frost King said, reaching over and grabbing something else. "What is this?"

"That's a spoon," Yugi said, reaching for it. "I'll show you what it's for."

The Frost King—Yami—let Yugi take the spoon. He used it to take a mouthful of soup. "Okay," Yugi said, once the soup was warming his innards. "Where are we?"

"I told you, you're in my home." Yami pulled a tin from one of the packs. "What is this?"

Yugi accepted it. "It's spice. It's for flavoring food." He deposited a pinch in the pot and closed the tin. "So where's the door?"

"Door?"

"How you get in and out."

"Oh. Like this," Yami said.

And with that, he bounded through the wall of ice to Yugi's right.

Yugi gaped, completely stunned. He had gone straight through a solid wall of ice! How!?

Yami came back in, stepping through the ice like it wasn't there. "_How?"_ Yugi squawked. "How did you _do_ that?"

The Frost King shrugged. "I don't know; I've never given it much thought before." He glanced around, then plucked up another thing. "What is this?"

"That's Willow's teddy bear!" Yugi exclaimed, hopping up and taking it. "I remember when she lost this."

Indeed, Willow had been heartbroken over losing the bear. Wilson had tried to make her a new one, but to no avail. Yugi had finally helped to cheer her up by loaning her his googly-eyed hat for a while. She had given it back when she saw how cold he was without it.

The Frost King shrugged once more, then picked up something else. "What is this?"

"That's a cup," Yugi said, taking it. "It's for scooping up soup, like this." He demonstrated. "Wasn't I supposed to ask a question then?"

"You had asked two in a row," Yami argued, then plucked something else up. "What is this?"

"That's Wilson's top hat," Yugi said, remembering when it had blown away. "So you're focused on literal questions as part of the I-ask-you-ask thing?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Then that counts as a question."

"And you just answered it. Next question."

Yugi rubbed his face. Oi vey….He obviously was going to have to consider his questions very carefully. "Okay," he said finally. "Where did you come from?"

"From the top of a mountain," Yami replied promptly, selecting something else. "What is this?"

"It's a scarf. It's for keeping the neck and head warm. Which mountain?"

Yami gave a vague gesture, as though trying to indicate direction. "A very tall one over that way." He picked something else up. "What is this?"

"They're mittens—they keep your hands warm, see?"

Yugi held his hands out to provide an example.

Yami looked at them, surprise clearly etched on his face. "You mean those _aren't_ your real hands?"

"No." Yugi pulled off one of his mittens and showed Yami his bare hand. It was pale like the rest of him, suffering from a lack of steady light. Yami looked closely at them; Yugi could feel the cold radiating off of him. He surreptitiously slipped his mitten back on as Yami looked at his own clawed hand.

"So it's my question now, right?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, it was," Yami replied, picking up another thing. "What is this?"

Yugi slapped himself in the forehead. Idiot. He took the question literally.

Yami jerked his head back. "What was that for?"

Hey! That gave Yugi two questions in a row! "Well, what you're holding is a boot," Yugi said, pointing. "They're for covering feet. I slapped myself in the forehead because I was…" what was a good word? "Exasperated with myself."

"What's exasperated?"

"It's…like annoyed. I was annoyed with myself. Now I get three questions."

Yami tilted his head, then nodded. "Okay."

Yugi had been expecting more of an argument than that. "All right," Yugi said slowly, trying to select just the right questions to ask. "What is your earliest memory?"

"Waking up on top of a mountain." Full stop.

"Okay," Yugi noised, when it was clear Yami wasn't going to elaborate. "Can you…_are_ you the cause of the cold?"

"Is that one question or two?"

"One. And now you owe me another."

"Okay. I can cause cold," he said, standing up and shaking himself. A miniature blizzard swept through the cave.

"Okay! Enough! Enough!" Yugi cried, fearful the fire would go out. Yami stopped obligingly. "How do you do that?"

Yami shrugged. "I don't know." Full stop.

"Do you know what's beyond the Pass?"

"A lot of snow-fog." Full stop.

Yugi noticed Yami was getting antsy. "Do you want to ask your question now?" he sighed.

Yami nodded brightly and leaped over to one of the sleds. "What is this?"

"That's a sled. It's for travelling over the snow."

Yami tilted his head at that.

"Can I ask one more question?"

"Sure," Yami said, then snatched up something else. "What is this?"

"Snowshoes. They're for travelling over the snow."

"I thought that was what the sled was for."

"It is. Those snap onto the boots."

Yami had a very amazed look on his face. "Yami," Yugi said quietly. Yami looked up. "Are there any others like you?"

Yami grew very quiet at that. Yugi could tell he had asked a question that Yami had asked himself multiple times.

"I don't know," he said finally, zest knocked out of him.

Yugi sat and blew on his cup of soup, then belatedly realized it had frozen. He put it next to the guttering fire to heat up and used the soup spoon instead.

He noticed that Yami had hunkered down and was watching him eat. "What?" he asked finally.

"What does soup taste like?"

Yugi stared at him for a moment, then gave him the partially frozen cup of soup for him to try.

He watched as Yami tried the soup. He seemed to like it. Yugi gave him a few moments before asking his next question.

"Can I go now?"

Yami was busy licking his lips. "No."

Yugi had been afraid of that. "Can I ask why?"

"Sure."

Yugi waited a moment before he realized that Yami had given the literal answer to his question. "Okay, why?"

"There's a big blizzard outside," Yami said simply, thoroughly licking the now-empty cup of soup. "It won't lift until morning. This stuff is really _good_, by the way."

"When the blizzard lifts, then can I go?"

"Sure. Can I have some more of this?"

Yugi took the cup and filled it up again. "How much longer is that?" he asked as he handed the cup back.

"Several hours. I'm beginning to understand why you humans like soup so much."

Yugi sighed and hunkered down in the blankets. "Well, if that's the case, I think I'll rest a little bit." He pulled some blankets over himself and tried to go to sleep.

A cold feeling prompted him to open his eyes again.

Yami was at the edge of the blankets, leaning over him.

"Can I help you?" Yugi asked, trying to slow his heart rate to normal.

"I was hoping to ask you about a few more things…."


	11. Heading Home

**Chapter 11, everybody! I find it ironic that I said I'd post regularly until it warmed up, and then we have an exceptionally warm December.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The day was crisp and cold, and the sun was blinding on the snow.

Despite the bracing cold, Yugi was grateful. He hadn't been looking forward to being stuck in that cave any longer than necessary, but getting out had terrified him. Clinging to something freezing that he hardly trusted, then letting it drag him through solid ice…it wasn't an experience he was looking forward to repeating.

Yami, meanwhile, was watching him carefully, as though he were assessing Yugi's reaction. "So which way is home?" Yugi asked.

"That way," Yami replied, indicating towards the forest.

Yugi took a step towards his destination. "Well, thank you for—"

Not much else got out of his mouth—the snow gave way beneath him and he went slip-sliding down the slope.

Yugi sat up, spluttering. Not the best way to start off his trip home.

Yami came down after him, bounding and wallowing in the snow like it was the best thing in the world. Which for the Frost King, Yugi supposed, was accurate.

"Yeah, I uh, meant to do that," Yugi said.

Yami didn't seem too bothered. "I do it all the time."

"You fall down hills?"

"I _jump_ down them. I thought you meant to do that."

Yugi sighed and stood up, readjusting the pack that he had convinced Yami to part with. "Anyway, thanks and all. Bye."

And with that, he set off through the snow.

A light crunching parallel to his own told him that Yami was following him. "Um, not to be rude and all," Yugi said, looking at the Frost King loping along beside him. "But what are you doing?"

"Following you."

"Why?"

"You're interesting and you know a lot."

"Wilson knows more than I do," Yugi muttered, still walking. Then, to Yami, "You know, you can't go with me to Frostmore."

"To what?"

"Frostmore. My village," Yugi clarified. "Everyone would freak out, and they wouldn't let me explain."

Yami tilted his head. "What's that mean?"

"What?"

"Freak out."

"Oh, uh, you know, go crazy." Yami stared at him blankly. "Do you know what rabies is?" Yami nodded. "It's kind of like that."

"Oh," Yami said, visibly concerned.

"So you see, it's probably a good idea if you didn't follow me to Frostmore."

"How come you're not rabid—er, freak-out?"

Yugi realized he could have explained that better. "Um, well, it's not _exactly_ like rabies, and…well, uh….A lot of people tend to shoot first and ask questions later."

"People?"

"Humans."

"Oh. What's shoot first?"

"Use their guns."

"Guns?"

"Kill first and ask questions later."

Yami seemed offended at that. "See?" Yugi asked. "So, thanks for everything, but I'm good."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Yami nodded, that smile back on his face. "All right. You know you're heading the wrong way, right?"

"What?" Yugi asked.

Yami nodded in another direction, slightly perpendicular to Yugi's current direction. "You're supposed to be going _that_ way."

Yugi groaned. "Okay, you can see me to my village, but after that, you have to go, all right?"

"You got it."


	12. Yugi's Return

**Chapter 12, ladies and gentlemen, and the return of our favorite nerd! And I jinxed it—with the exception of maybe Hawaii, the whole United States is in a major cold snap (_waaaay_ jinxed it…).**

**I neglected to mention this before, but when this was being written the Thermal Stone from _Don't Starve_ was still referred to as a Heat Stone (the name changed once _Reign of Giants_ came about and the stone could be used to cool down as well).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Life in Frostmore had gone on.

Yugi's family was disconsolate. After two days, there was absolutely no way he could have survived. Willow was with them, still inconsolable. Wilson had managed to stop her from setting things on fire (as she was wont to do when she was upset), so she had resigned herself to mourning with his family.

Wilson, meanwhile, was beating himself up over the loss of Yugi. He was his superior. He should have made him come back. He shouldn't have let him go off on his own.

But it was too late to fix that. So, he threw himself into his work. Once the boiler was up and running, they wouldn't lose anyone else like they did Yugi.

Joey and Tristan were markedly subdued. Wilson knew they weren't that close to Yugi, but they had been close enough that his passing bothered them.

Wilson heaved a sigh. He'd give anything to see Yugi come tromping back….

"Hey!"

Everyone turned to look.

Yugi was heading towards them, arms waving in greeting.

_Yugi._

"Yugi!" Joey and Tristan hollered, bolting for him. Wilson stood shocked. No way….

Apparently, Ushio didn't think so either. "Hold it," he barked, leveling his gun at Yugi.

Yugi froze. Joey and Tristan, however, rounded on Ushio. "Hey, you dumb jerk! What gives?" Joey snapped, demonstrating his lack of foresight.

"How do we know that's the _real_ Yugi?" Ushio shot back.

Of course. This could be a wraith to do the Frost King's bidding. Unless….

"Yugi!" Wilson hollered. "What's Willow's middle name?"

"Ember," Yugi said promptly.

"That's him."

"Willow doesn't _have_ a middle name," Ushio argued.

"It's the one she picked," Wilson countered, moving up to Yugi, hands on his hips. "Remind me what the last thing I said to you was," he demanded.

"'Don't stay out too long'?" Yugi guessed.

"_Exactly!_ Do you lack all common scientific sense?"

"The heat stone works."

"For a limited time! Why aren't you frozen to death?"

"I found a cave," Yugi said promptly (too promptly, Wilson thought). "I stayed there and lit a fire until the storm broke, then I found my way home. And I found this."

And Yugi produced Wilson's old top hat.

"My hat!" Wilson exclaimed, snatching it up. "This blew away years ago! Where on earth did you find it?"

"It's a very long story."

"Fine," Ushio growled, finally shouldering his gun. "Since nobody seems concerned about the danger here, I'll just go on my merry way."

"It's okay, Ushio, I was sorta expecting it anyway," Yugi called after him. Ushio gave a dismissive wave as he left.

* * *

That night found Yugi securely wedged between his mother and grandfather, Willow nearby with her newly reclaimed bear. Wilson sat next to her, chin on his chest and snoring slightly. He must have been more stressed than he let on, Yugi mused, to fall asleep instead of stay up and take notes.

As Yugi fell asleep, he wondered what Yami must be up to.

* * *

Despite Yugi's warnings, Yami had snuck into the village that night.

He couldn't help it. He was curious. And with his newfound knowledge, he could finally figure out some of the stuff scattered about the wood-and-stone piles—_houses_, Yugi had called them, although he had said that no one really lived in them anymore.

That had prompted Yami to ask why. Yugi had responded with the fact that it was too cold in Frostmore to stay warm in the individual houses. Yami had asked why they stayed then, if they didn't like the cold.

"Because no one can get through the Pass," Yugi had replied.

Fascinating. Why not, Yami wondered. But then again, if Yugi was anything to go by, humans weren't very sturdy creatures.

Yami ducked behind a snow-covered copse of bushes as two humans with long sticks turned a corner. He watched with interest as they went by, passing where he walked—he had learned his lesson from before, and dusted his tracks away with his tail.

When they left, he stood up and continued on, searching for more things to ask Yugi about the next time he saw him. For example, why did humans carry sticks like that?

He found another food container and poked through it, failing to find anything. He thought longingly of soup. He liked soup. It was tasty. He wondered if he could make it again.

That's what he'd do, he decided, turning towards home. He was pretty sure he could guilt Lief into letting him burn the sticks that fell from the trees. At the very least, he could give some reason or theory as to why the humans chopped down so many trees.

And so, after making a small detour to tackle a hapless rabbit, he headed for home with a notable spring in his step.


	13. Lief

**Chapter 13, ladies and gentlemen! Now we get to meet the bane of lumberjacks! And another long chapter, too—goodness!**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

As Yugi expected, he wasn't left alone for a long time afterwards.

It took several weeks to convince anyone to let him out of the village, and even longer to let him go even a small distance away by himself. His family inquired after him all the time now, and needed to know his exact location at all times. Wilson was practically on top of him at all times, and on the few occasions that Wilson had allowed himself to be preoccupied with the boiler, he set Joey or Tristan on him.

Those two, Yugi was pleasantly surprised to learn, had worried about him while he was lost. Joey in particular had a very good reason: his sister Serenity got upset whenever their number dwindled.

Willow—despite usually agreeing with him—wouldn't leave him alone. She'd follow him around wherever he went, newly-reclaimed teddy bear in hand. Yugi was beginning to appreciate how much time she usually spent under Wilson's feet.

Finally, on a clear day several months later, he was able to sneak off without anyone instantly calling him back or accompanying him.

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief as he shouldered his axe; he hadn't realized how much he had enjoyed his relative anonymity before. Sure, everyone knew everyone in Frostmore, but Yugi for the most part was passed over for his relative weakness. He was tenacious, something that Wilson at least had noticed, but tenacity only got one so far.

Now, however, his tenacity had apparently gotten him through a nasty blizzard. And now he was worth noticing. At the very least, because he could potentially be one of the Frost King's wraiths.

Ushio hadn't ceased to be suspicious of him, although he had relaxed considerably when it was Yugi's turn near the fire and Yugi didn't balk at the flames. Yugi wasn't sure if he wanted to mention that the Frost King didn't seem fazed by fire.

Indeed, Yugi hadn't told anyone of his encounter. Mention of it would certainly solidify all suspicions, and Yugi would be out in the cold faster than they could scream _traitor_. After all, it was the Frost King's fault that they were all in that mess.

At this point, Yugi was seriously beginning to wonder if he had even met the Frost King. His defensive lie was seeming realer every day, and that weird time spent with the weirder Yami seemed more like a strange dream. It didn't help that it had snowed heavily several times after he had gotten back; Yami's voice sounded very much like the deep quiet sound of snow hitting itself, and numerous times Yugi had started awake, certain he heard Yami in the middle of the night.

He sighed and readied his axe, finally finding a pine tree with full boughs on it. He might as well get back to the grind already.

And then the snow drift next to him exploded.

Yugi fell back with a shriek, certain that doom was about to befall him. He fell into another snow pile and floundered in the deeper snow, finally managing to sit up and see—

_"Yami!"_

Any doubts he had flew out of his head as he saw the Frost King himself on all fours in front of him, head down and then up, like an excited wolf. Yugi noted that he now wore the deep blue scarf he had asked Yugi about.

"Finally!" Yami exclaimed, looking Yugi up and down while grinning madly. "I was beginning to wonder if I'd _ever_ see you again! By the way, I have a few more things I have to ask you about—"

Yugi managed to stand as Yami flounced in the snow all around him, still with the motions that made Yugi think he was sizing him up to eat. He was still talking a mile a minute—like he wanted to make up for three month's worth of not seeing him—when Yugi interrupted him.

"Now _hold it_," Yugi said, holding up both hands. "Firstly, you can't be here. You're too close to the village."

"I'm not worried," Yami said breezily. "There's not a thing alive that can catch me in the snow."

"Secondly, I _definitely_ can't be seen with you."

This seemed to bother Yami more. "Why not?"

"I survived a blizzard I shouldn't have," Yugi explained. "And now everyone's walking on eggshells around me—they think I'm some sort of wraith that you summoned up."

Yami tilted his head. "I can do that?"

"_Can_ you?"

"I don't know. What's a wraith?"

"I'll take that as a _no_, then," Yugi muttered. "Besides, people will try to kill you if they see you."

Yami didn't seem concerned. "They'll try to kill _me_ if they see you," Yugi added, which seemed to bother Yami more.

"Well then, they just _won't_ see me, how's that?" he asked, standing up and shaking himself. A small flurry breezed out of his fluffy collar.

Yugi stared. "You know, I always thought Wilson was difficult to talk to. You're worse, it turns out."

"What's a Wilson?"

"Wilson is…" Yugi had to think about that. "A Gentleman Scientist. Now come on—I have to get some wood for the fire, or people really _will_ think I'm conspiring with the Frost King."

"Aren't you?"

"That's not the point," Yugi said, grasping a branch.

"You oughtn't bother Lief when he's sleeping."

_"Who?"_

Yami pointed. "Lief. He's grumpy at the best of times."

Yugi looked, then stared at Yami. "Wait a minute—are we talking about a _tree_?"

"No," Yami said, going over to sit by the tree. "We're talking about _this_ tree. This is Lief."

"And Lief is a tree."

"Yes."

"I think I might have just found what happens to a person who suffers from a brainfreeze."

"Really? What?"

Yugi put his face in his hands and tried very hard not to sound overly irritated. "Okay, Lief is a tree. But my village needs wood for the fire. So would Lief mind too terribly if I took some of his branches?"

"I don't know," Yami said slowly. He looked at the tree. "Lief, would you mind terribly if you were missing some branches?"

To Yugi's surprise, the tree shook itself.

"Lief says yes, he would mind," Yami said, when the boughs subsided.

"Um…." Yugi noised, not sure how to proceed.

"I tried explaining things to Lief the other day," Yami continued, scratching his ear, not noticing Yugi's discomfort. "But he's still not convinced. He has the same opinion that everyone else has regarding you…people."

"Which is?"

"'If you had any brains, you wouldn't be up on the mountain to begin with,'" Yami said. The way he tilted his head when he said this indicated that he had heard this same statement multiple times.

"Tell him we've _tried_ leaving before," Yugi said, exasperated. "But anyone who's tried to get through the Pass has frozen to death first. _You_ know that."

"_I_ do. And he says he speaks English," Yami said, indicating the tree, which had shaken again.

"I'm not used to having a conversation with a tree."

"Understandable."

"And since _you're _used to talking with a tree, could you convince him that getting wood for my village is important?"

"I tried. He doesn't want to listen."

Yugi pursed his lips, picturing Yami chatting up a tree. Considering his personality, it wasn't a far-fetched idea. And judging by his garrulousness, it was no wonder that even a _tree_ would tune him out.

"Listen," Yugi said, deciding to finally address "Lief". "I know you don't like people cutting down trees. I don't like it too much, either. But it's either that or freeze to death. And that wouldn't be a good thing either, right?"

The tree shook angrily. "Lief says he wouldn't mind it. He says that's what he was heading to your village for—_hey,_" Yami said, suddenly angry with the tree. "We talked about this—no attacking the village."

"I'm sorry, he was _heading_ to the village?"

"Yeah, Lief can move."

Yugi closed his eyes for the longest time, summoning the strength to deal with Yami and his tree. "I know it sounds mean, and we look like we're just mindlessly hacking down trees," Yugi said slowly. "But we _need_ to stay warm. We're trying to figure out how to get through the Pass. Once we get through, then there won't be anybody left to cut trees down. We'll plant a bunch of pinecones before we leave, even."

The tree was very still for several moments.

Then it stood up.

Yugi fell back in horror, watching what had been a totally normal tree sprout branchlike arms and legs (or were they limb-like branches?) and double in size as it stood. Boughs moved and morphed to make a cavernous face, one that didn't look too happy. Yugi figured he had five minutes, if that.

Yami seemed to think so too, as he had leapt to Yugi's side and hunkered there, looking pleading yet ready to pounce.

Lief pointed at Yugi and grumbled something.

"He says he'll leave you and your village alone under one condition," Yami supplied, still on edge.

"What's that?" Yugi croaked. His voice seemed to have left him.

In response, Lief plucked a pine cone from his chest and held it out to Yugi.

"He says that if you do make it through the Pass, you should plant a pinecone on that side," Yami said, interpreting the grumbling.

Trembling, Yugi accepted the pinecone. "Sure," he stammered. "I can do that. I will do that. I promise."

Lief grumbled some more, but he seemed satisfied. He turned away and stomped back up to a thicket of trees halfway up the mountain.

"I think he likes you," Yami said, after Lief had gone a ways.

"Yeah, great," Yugi said, pocketing the pinecone. "It's good to know the tree doesn't want to kill me anymore."

"Well, he still might. I don't think he believes you'd make it over the Pass."

Yugi looked at Yami. "Do _you_?"

Yami shrugged. "Does it matter? If you left, I'd be down one friend."

Yugi considered that. "You consider me a friend?"

"What else would I consider you?"

"An acquaintance, at least," Yugi said, looking around. "I'm in trouble."

"Why?"

"I need to get wood, but now I'm afraid to touch any of the trees."

"Lief has that effect," Yami said, standing up. "Come on; I know where some deadfall is. Lief doesn't mind if you take _that._"


	14. Fishing

**Chapter 14—it's a Tony Stewart chapter! :D**

**Thanks to theelementalbanana over on DeviantArt for showing interest in the story. :)**

**And something that occurs to me: why can't you take a pickaxe to the frozen frog ponds in the game?**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Thankfully, Yugi didn't encounter Lief again. But whenever he left the village unattended, Yami was right there, excited to see his new friend again. Yugi was forcibly reminded of Chester, the old shaggy dog that Wilson had owned.

Yami seemed accepting of the fact that Yugi couldn't bound through the snow like he could, and seemed perfectly content following him around on whatever errand he was doing and peppering him with questions.

Case in point, when Yami noticed Yugi's lunch.

"What is that?" Yami asked, nosing around Yugi's pocket. Yugi wouldn't have minded so much, except for the fact that just being near Yami made the temperature drop several degrees.

"It's my lunch," Yugi said, edging away a bit. "It's something for me to eat in the middle of the day."

"When will that be?"

"Not for a few hours."

Yami made a noise in the back of his throat. "So what are we doing until then?"

"_I'm _going fishing."

"What's fishing?"

Yugi showed his fishing pole, basket, pick, and saw. "Um," he noised, wondering how to best explain it. "Maybe I ought to show you."

So he led Yami off to a frozen pond.

Yami gave the ice a cursory tap. "Is fishing another word for sliding?"

"No, watch," Yugi said, as he started a hole with the pickaxe, then sawed the rest. Soon he had a hole just big enough to fish in.

Yami leaned forward to look at the hole. "So, this is fishing?"

"It will be," Yugi said. "As soon as I can keep the hole clear."

Yami looked down to see that his presence had frozen the ice over again. "Oops."

Yugi set to reopening the hole, with Yami trying to help by clawing at the ice. For every scratch he did, more ice seemed to form, but eventually they ended up with a hole that was much too big for fishing. Yugi decided to leave it at that; Yami's presence would seal up most of the hole anyway.

"Now watch," Yugi said, loosing the line into the water. "I throw the line in here, and then wait for a fish to show up."

Yami sat on his haunches and waited for a whole minute. "Is something supposed to happen?"

"It will when a fish bites."

"And when will that be?"

"When the fish is good and ready, I guess."

Yami made an impatient noise and stood up on all fours. "Are you sure there's even fish in there?"

Yugi bit his lip. "I'm pretty sure."

"I'm going to look."

And before Yugi could stop him, Yami stuck his head in the water.

Instantly, the water froze, trapping his head beneath the ice.

Yami struggled frantically, trying to get free. Yugi panicked—how could he free his friend from this? He cast around for some way to free him, spotted the pickaxe. He snatched it up and started whaling away at the ice around Yami, dancing around as Yami skittered about trying to free himself.

The ice was cracking.

Suddenly Yami was free, falling back and clawing at the remaining ice around his head.

Yugi collected his stuff and scrambled to the shore, no longer certain of the safety of the ice. Yami wobbled over and collapsed, still scraping at scraps of ice clinging to his fur and hair.

"I don't think I like fishing," Yami said, heaving.

"You're not supposed to stick your head in the water," Yugi panted, shaking at the near-miss. "Are you okay?"

Yami shook his head, then picked a piece of ice from behind his ear. "I'm fine," he said, reorienting himself to face the ice. "Now what?"

"I'll just tell them I heard a bad crack in the ice," Yugi said. "They'll understand—it's better to have no fish than a bad case of hypothermia."

"Hypa-what?"

"Hypothermia. It's caused by extreme cold—like getting soaked in cold water then going around in freezing temperatures."

Yami was combing through his fur ruff now, checking for stray bits of ice. "I've never heard of it. Is it a human thing?"

"Yeah," Yugi said, tucking his knees up to his chest for added warmth. "You can normally diagnose it by blue lips, pale skin, blue-black extremities," he glanced to the side and winced when he realized that described Yami. "And uh, noticeable shivering."

Yami examined Yugi, a bit close for the latter's comfort. "You're kind of red."

"That's a good sign—it means blood flow."

Yami frowned. "It's probably different for uh, Frost Kings," Yugi said.

"Oh," Yami said, seemingly satisfied with that explanation. He flopped down in the snow, giving Yugi a moment's relief.

"Is it time for lunch yet?" Yami asked.

Yugi had practically forgotten. "Yeah, I guess. Might as well." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little bundle. Yami watched with interest as Yugi unwrapped it, revealing four biscuit sandwiches with bacon inside. Yugi guarded it for a moment of silence, then picked one up to give to Yami.

Yami's nose twitched at the miniature sandwich. Yugi worried for a beat that he'd try to eat it right out of his hand, but was relieved when Yami gingerly took it with two fingers.

Yugi ate one while Yami examined the sandwich. He watched as Yami nibbled at it—Yami's expression changed, and the biscuit-bacon sandwich vanished.

"That was _really_ good!" Yami said, examining the remaining two sandwiches. "Almost as good as soup. What is it?"

"They're called sandwiches," Yugi said, handing him another. "The bread is biscuit, and the innards are bacon. Savor this one, by the way—you get two and I get two."

"All right," Yami said, hunkering down and—very slowly—nibbling away at the sandwich. He was still finished before Yugi, and examined the bundle like it was supposed to provide more sandwiches.

"Sorry—all gone," Yugi said, shaking the hankie to show its emptiness. Some crumbs fell out, which Yami ate.

"Now what?" Yami asked.

Like Yugi would know. "I don't have any fish to show for my trip," he mused. "Is there any deadfall nearby?"

"Right this way."


	15. Jingle Bells

**Chapter 15, everybody, and time for more references! A story review to whoever guesses them all. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi was prepared the next time he went out, with twice as many sandwiches (which had involved quite a bit of begging) and a surprise for Yami.

He actually congratulated himself on his cleverness—this surprise would forever solve the problem of Yami sneaking up on him—

There was a sound, like snow falling off a branch, and then Yami collided with Yugi.

"Finally! You're back!" Yami exclaimed, rolling him. "Now we can _do_ stuff again!"

_It's hard to be mad at somebody who misses you when you're asleep_, Yugi mused, figuring it was better than cursing Yami's ancestry. When they finally rolled to a halt, Yugi floundered out of the snow as Yami bounded around him excitedly.

"So what are we doing today?" Yami asked. "Did you bring biscuits-and-bacon?"

"Yeah, I did," Yugi said, finally managing to stand upright. "And I got a surprise for you as well."

"Really? What is it?"

"First, you've got to sit still," Yugi chided. Yami did so, but Yugi could see him trembling with excitement. "Okay, here it is."

And he pulled out a ring of jingle bells, perfect for wearing around the neck.

Yami's ears pricked up at the sound they made. "What is it?" he asked.

"They're jingle-bells," Yugi explained. "Listen."

And he tapped out the song "Jingle Bells" on the bells.

Yugi knew he hit the jackpot—Yami begged him over and over to play the song again. He finally managed to teach Yami how, and after looping the bells around his neck, they set off, Yami now humming "Jingle Bells" as they went. It was better than the other song he knew—Frozen Hart—Yugi supposed, feeling the corners of his mouth turn down at the memory. Yami had heard some of the workers singing it, and had insisted that Yugi teach him. He had taken to loping around singing it with gusto, and Yugi didn't have the heart to tell him it was a warning against the Frost King.

"So what _are_ we doing today?" Yami asked him.

"You can help me find some wood that won't bring Lief down on me," Yugi suggested.

"Sure! That's this way!"

And Yami bounded off, leaving Yugi in the drifts.

"You know, not everyone can run through the snow like you can!" Yugi hollered after him, regretting not picking up those snowshoes in the ice cavern when he had the chance. He grumbled as he set after him.

"Stupid snow-brained hare-footed loon," Yugi muttered, struggling through the snow and trying to follow Yami's faint footprints. How could something bound and sink deep into the snow like that and then dash along the top like it was nothing? Maybe he _was_ magic. Maybe all those stories were true. And maybe he was an idiot to keep being friends with him when he really ought to be with—

"Yugi?"

Yugi started sharply and glanced around frantically, sure he had been alone, and in doing so, missed Willow the first time. She gave him that patented _you're-an-idiot_ look, one hand on her hip, the other holding a bundle of sticks.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "If Wilson catches you idling, he'll get you to help him dig rocks again."

Yugi shared her grimace—he had helped Wilson dig for rocks near one of the cliff faces before; it was tiring and cold at best.

Willow glanced around. "What _were_ you doing?"

"Um…." How best to describe this? He wasn't in the habit of lying to Willow, one of his few close friends in Frostmore—but how could he explain something like Yami to her? "I thought I…saw rabbit prints. I was trying to follow them."

It was close enough—Yami's hind-prints resembled rabbit prints, although much larger. They were light enough to not be identifiable, though.

Willow looked at the nearest one closely. "I've seen prints like those before," she said. "I don't think they lead to anything though. Don't tell Wilson," Willow said, looking up. "But I tried to follow them once—I nearly got lost doing that."

That made Yugi's heart thrill in his chest—for half-a-minute, he worried that the Frost King had been about to lead him to his doom. He quickly dismissed that worry—there was no sense in saving his life just to kill him later.

"Come on," Willow said, taking his hand and pulling him along. "We can go gather some more sticks so we look busy."

Yugi glanced around, nervous. He really hoped Yami wouldn't come bounding back. But he couldn't tell Willow no….

He followed her and hoped for the best.

* * *

Yami found the deadfall and turned around expectantly.

Yugi wasn't there.

"Idiot," Yami muttered. He had forgotten how Yugi couldn't move through the snow well. He bounded back through the forest, looking for Yugi.

He found him after a while, spotting him through the woods. _See? He got lost. Idiot Frost King, _he thought to himself, grateful that he finally had something to call himself. Well, time to set him straight.

He bounded over and took a flying leap, ready to surprise him.

"_Yugi!"_


	16. Willow and the Frost King

**Chapter 16, everybody! In which a certain firestarter encounters a creature of ice and snow….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi and Willow were busy collecting small sticks, testing them on the branches to see if they were green, and then snapping off those that were dead. Yugi hoped Lief wouldn't mind.

As they worked, they chatted about Wilson's new invention. It was inevitable—Willow spent most of her time with her ward; it made sense that he was forefront in her considerations.

"I wonder if Wilson's next invention will be something to melt the snow," Willow posed, after a while.

"I don't know," Yugi said, thinking of Yami and how he froze the water so quickly.

Yugi heard her sigh, heard the _click-click_ that was her playing with her lighter. He opened his mouth to add something more when he heard something else.

The jingling of jingle bells.

_Oh no,_ Yugi panicked, glancing around. At least the bells worked. But now he had to spot Yami and wave him off before—

"_Yugi!"_

_"Ooufh!"_

The first was Yami, doing one of those bounding leaps and landing on Yugi, who made the second noise as he was flattened into the snow. Again. He had to talk to Yami about pouncing on him like that. Yami was chattering away, like he hadn't lost Yugi at all when—

Oh no—Willow.

Yugi floundered out of the snow as Yami abruptly cut off. Yugi realized he must have spotted the young firestarter. Sure enough, there was Yami, looking surprised at the young girl brandishing her lighter at him.

"Leave him alone!" she commanded, sounding braver than she must feel—Yugi could see her shaking.

In response, Yami—obviously fascinated by the flame she was holding in her hand—advanced curiously on her. "Stay away!" Willow yelled, waving the flame back and forth. Yami followed the movement.

Yugi realized he'd have to defuse this quickly—if Willow injured Yami, Yami might react in a less than desirable way. Yugi wasn't sure what that would be, but he was sure it wouldn't be good.

He ran up and stood between the two. "Stop! _Stop!"_ he held up one hand at Yami, stopping him, while using his other hand to lower Willow's arm. "Yami, this is Willow: she's a friend. Willow, this is Yami."

Willow stared at him for the longest time, occasionally glancing back and forth between him and Yami.

Finally, she clicked her lighter shut.

"_You…_are in _so_ much trouble," she said, running back to the village.

"Da-da-da! We're dead," Yugi announced, flinging his arms up in the air.

He heard jingling. "And where are you—" Yugi began, turning around.

Yami was gone. "Going," he finished lamely. He glanced down to see if he could guess where Yami was going.

Towards Willow, evidently.

"Oh boy," Yugi noised, running after them.

* * *

The girl Willow was angrily stomping through the snow, and making good time, too. That was impressive. But something about the way she moved seemed upset to Yami. He couldn't help but feel responsible.

_Well, I've got to make it better,_ Yami thought. _If I messed up something, I've got to make it right._

So, he made the leap and landed right in front of her.

"Hi," he said, making sure his head was low like how the wolves did when trying to indicate submissiveness.

She had a look on her face that reminded him of Yugi when they first met. He wondered if it was a thing.

"Willow!"

Yugi tumbled the rest of the way down the snowdrift and scrambled to his feet. "Yami! Leave her alone!"

Yami felt his ears prick up at this. Why would he ask that? She had said the same thing—maybe it was a game?

"_Yami?_" Willow asked, turned towards Yugi.

"No, _he's_ Yugi, _I'm_ Yami," Yami corrected.

Her expression was comical as she glanced back at him. "The thing talks," she said quietly.

"I'm not a thing," Yami said, this time sitting up and puffing up a bit. "I'm a _Frost King_," he corrected, glad of the designation. If she had called him that before, he would have agreed with her.

Willow looked back at Yugi with that look on her face again. _"The Frost King?"_ she squawked.

Yugi fidgeted. "Remember that time I survived that blizzard?"

"Ushio's right—you _are_ a wraith!"

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"What's a wraith?" Yami asked.

"An evil monster that does your bidding," Willow explained.

"Really?" Then, to Yugi: "Sit!"

"No," Yugi replied bluntly.

"Oh."

"I'm not convinced," Willow said.

"And how am I supposed to convince you?" Yugi asked, hands up. "I can't tell you how many times I've spent in front of the fire—"

"_He's_ not afraid of fire!"

"And short of you burning me, I can't think of anything else—_don't even think about it!"_

"But things are so much prettier when they burn," Willow said, holding a flame in her hand again. Yami leaned closer to see. "Back off, fuzz-face."

"How are you doing that?" Yami asked, impressed with the fact that she was actually _holding _fire.

Willow looked to Yugi, who nodded. She turned back to Yami and held something small and metallic up.

"It's a lighter, see," she said, then pressed a button. "I press this, and flames come out."

Yami flicked his ears forward, fascinated. This might just beat out snowshoes as the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

Willow was looking at Yugi again. "He's not going to hurt me, is he," she said.

"No," Yami responded. "But I don't think Yugi's the sort to hurt anybody."

They stared at him for a moment. "No, he's cool," Yugi said to her finally.

"I know _that_," Willow said, smiling.

"Hey, you look nice when you smile," Yami observed. Willow's face turned red—what was up with _that?_

"So now what?" she asked suddenly, looking from Yami to Yugi then back to Yami.

Yami gave it some thought before hitting on an idea.

"Do you want to build a snowman?"


	17. Informing Wilson

**Chapter 17, everybody! :D**

**To be honest, I had wanted to add a bit more between this chapter and the last chapter, as I felt it was a bit abrupt when writing it. Coming back to it, I think it's fine, but I would like to know if anyone else feels that way.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"We've got to tell someone."

It had been a week since Willow had met Yami, and the Frost King had flourished with the addition of the firestarter's attention. At the very least, it gave Yugi a break from answering all of Yami's questions.

But now this statement from Willow threw Yugi for a loop. "What?"

"We ought to tell someone about Yami."

Yugi recalled what Pegasus's wife, Cecelia, had said once: _A secret is best kept when only one person knows it._ "Well, why?" he asked her, stalling.

Willow shrugged, picking a few more berries. "It seems like an important thing. We should at _least_ tell Wilson."

Ah, but of course—as Willow's ward, she figured Wilson would _have_ to know. "I'm…not sure Wilson is ready for him."

"What's a Wilson?"

Yugi glanced up sharply to see Yami peering over the berry bush. "I've told you: he's a gentleman scientist."

"And my ward," Willow added. Then, sensing that the subject needed to be changed, "Let's build another snowman."

Yami agreed to that eagerly enough, apparently glad to have someone willing enough to play in the snow with him. Yugi watched for a few minutes, glad of the distraction—

_"Willow!"_

It was faint, but Yugi recognized the trumpety voice of Wilson. "I'll handle it," Yugi said, waving at Willow and Yami, the latter of which had perked up at the voice. "You guys just keep doing your thing."

With that, Yugi ran to find Wilson.

It didn't take too long—the scientist was tall enough to be spotted from a distance, and he was wearing his top hat today, making him more conspicuous. Yugi couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"They're hunting today," Wilson replied testily. "So I wanted to make sure I was easy to spot. Have you seen Willow, by the way? I don't want her out here with those trigger-happy goons out and about."

"Yeah, let me go get her," Yugi said, already turning to go. If they were hunting in the woods today, then he'd better warn Yami to stay away as well.

"I'll go with you," Wilson said, already moving to follow him. "_You_ shouldn't be out here either."

"_NO!"_ Yugi hollered, then composed himself. "No. See, we were making a…a snowman, cause Willow wanted to surprise you, and if you walk up on it before it's finished, she'll be upset."

Wilson made an understanding noise in the back of his throat, but crossed his arms. "You two shouldn't be making snowmen—you know the whole 'minions of the Frost King' thing surrounding them. If it was a prank to startle Ushio, it was poorly formed."

Yugi had almost forgotten about that—apparently, the Frost King could turn snowmen into moveable minions. But then again, considering Yami's reaction to the idea of turning someone into a wraith, he doubted it to be true. But still….

"Okay, okay," Yugi said, wincing a bit at the wind picking up. "Just let me get her myself, okay?"

There was something about the way Wilson raised his eyebrow that made Yugi uncomfortable, but he ran off before Wilson could say anything more.

It didn't take too long for Yugi to come across Yami and Willow again. "We've got to go," he said without preamble. "_You_ especially have to go," he said pointedly to Yami. "They're hunting today, and you don't want to get shot."

Yami seemed disappointed, which switched to dismay when Yugi turned to the snowman. "And we've got to knock this down."

Willow mirrored Yami's disappointment. "What? Why?"

"Remember the snowman thing?" Yugi said frantically. "If Ushio came across this—"

Yami stood next to the snowman defensively. "We've got to at least _finish_ it first."

Yugi glanced at the snowman. "Okay, but hurry it up! I don't think Wilson's going to wait very long—"

"He needs a hat," Willow declared. "Yugi, put your hat on it."

"Yugi doesn't have a hat," Yami interjected.

"Yes he does—"

A particularly strong gust of wind blew, and something dark tumbled by.

"There!" Yami said, snatching up the object and putting it on the snowman. "That works!"

It was Wilson's top hat.

"Yami! Hide! Now!" Yugi and Willow both hollered, flapping their arms to shoo him away. He obliged, but something about his attitude told Yugi he thought it was a game.

Yugi, meanwhile, was busy trying to disguise any evidence of Yami being there. Willow hurried to aid him, but both froze when some crunching—followed by Wilson's distinct science-y cursing—came to them. They quickly assumed innocent postures, and not a moment too soon—there was Wilson now.

His expression told Yugi that their normal innocent expression of big wide grin wasn't fooling him anymore. "What are you two doing?" he asked.

"We built a snowman for you," Yugi said through a gritted smile, hoping Willow would catch the hint. She did, thankfully, gesturing to the snowman in question.

"I call it 'Gentleman Scientist in White,'" she said proudly.

"Well, at least you caught my hat before it blew too far away," Wilson said, re-appropriating the article in question. Once it was safely back on his head, he launched into a lecture-tirade on how silly they were being, how dangerous it was out there, how ridiculous it was for them to even _dare_ make a snowman where Ushio would spot it—

Yugi and Willow both had experience with these tirades, and knew to simply remain quiet and nod, apologize at appropriate times, and otherwise simply tune Wilson out. Yugi was just glad Yami—

He cursed himself for jinxing it. The smile on his face was _very_ forced now.

Because there was Yami right behind Wilson, looking him up and down and watching him gesture in his rant.

"Uh, Wilson," Willow said quietly. Wilson ignored her, but Yami's ears perked up and he looked at Wilson in a new light.

_Please please please go away before he sees you,_ Yugi mentally pleaded. What he wouldn't give for a mental link between himself and Yami right about now….

"Oh, so _that's _a Wilson," Yami said finally, seeming pleased with the deduction.

It was all Yugi could do to keep from face-palming right there.

Wilson, meanwhile, had given the barest inkling he had noticed Yami, so busy was he with his tirade. He turned to Yami long enough to say "_Do you mind?"_ then turned back to them. "And another thing—"

And then the expression on Wilson's face shifted, indicating he had realized what he had just seen. He froze completely. His expression was comical in its exaggerated horror.

Of course, Wilson didn't realize that Yami was friendly….

"I want you two to run," Wilson muttered, not moving. "Don't turn around, no matter what you hear, and tell my science machine that I love it dearly."

"Uh, Wilson—" Yugi began.

Too late—Wilson had appropriated one of his tools and was swinging around quickly with a wild war yell, probably in hopes of startling or distracting Yami.

He succeeded in doing both, as Yami backed up so quickly that he fell head over heels. He quickly rolled back into a crouching position, however, expression on his face saying that he approved of this new game.

Yugi and Willow, meanwhile, were trying to distract the two before the "game" escalated into a full-on fight. "_Wilson! Wilson! Stop!"_ Willow begged, wrapping her arms around his waist and trying to pull him back. Yugi, meanwhile, had put himself bodily in front of Yami, distracting him from Wilson—or at least, trying to. Yami kept trying to look over him at Wilson, and considering he had several feet of clearance on four legs, he was succeeding.

And then Wilson put two and two together and froze again, this time with a look of consternated understanding on his face.

"You two," he hissed finally. "Are in _so_ much trouble."

Yugi grimaced. "That's what _she_ said," he tried, pointing at Willow.


	18. Wilson's Deal

**Chapter 18, and we see Wilson's reaction to the Frost King. "Hie thee hence" is Ye Olde English for "Hurry away, you"—or, rather, "Get lost!"**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Five minutes later saw Yugi and Willow once again the target of one of Wilson's tirades, this time on an entirely different subject.

The main difference this time, though, was Yami sitting there and watching Wilson pace back and forth, obviously fascinated by the gentleman scientist.

"And another thing," Wilson continued, in full swing. "_How_ could you not _tell_ anyone?"

"Because Ushio tried to shoot me on suspicion?" Yugi tried.

"_Ohhh,_ certainly that _lug_ would—what about me? I could have run plenty of tests to make sure nothing happened without overreacting—"

"You're overreacting now," Willow observed.

"_You_ are _grounded_, young lady!" Wilson told her. "For keeping…_this_ from me—"

"_I_ wanted to tell you—"

"She did," Yugi put in.

Yami, meanwhile, was beginning to look concerned at the conversation. Yugi shook his head minutely at the Frost King, but the action wasn't lost on Wilson.

"And _you!"_ he said, rounding on Yami. "I don't know where you came from, but you'd better hie thee hence _back_ there! And don't ever let me catch you bothering these two again!"

Yugi saw a faint glimmer of hope and seized upon it. "But Wilson!" he interjected, continuing before Wilson could shoot him down. "Think of the scientific possibilities!"

He had said the magic word. The notion of potential scientific possibilities froze Wilson mid-rant.

Willow saw what he was doing and jumped on it. "Yeah! Not everyone can say that they scientifically examined a Frost King! Right now you're the only scientist who has that designation!"

_Good one,_ Yugi mouthed to her. She beamed in return.

Wilson, meanwhile, was staring at Yami, one hand to his mouth and one on his hip, clearly seeing him in a new light. Yami tilted his head.

"All right, all right," Wilson sighed finally. "You two are still in a lot of trouble. And if anyone finds out about this—"

"We won't tell a soul," Yugi solemnly swore. Willow drew an X on her chest and held up her hand.

"About?" Yami asked, confused.

"Fine, fine," Wilson said, then gained a wicked grin. "But you two are going to be my willing assistants for the next _three weeks_."

_"Three weeks?"_ Yugi and Willow moaned in unison.

"Or…."

"Fine," they groused.

Yami blinked, not entirely sure what was going on.

* * *

That night, while everyone was asleep, saw Wilson busily working. He was taking notes of the encounter, experiments he wanted to try….

And all the while, trying to shake the notion that the Frost King was very, _very_ familiar.

He glanced over to where Yugi and Willow were sleeping, huddled together with Yugi's mother and grandfather. Funny—earlier, with the way they had been acting, he had almost worried that those two had begun to be romantically invested in each other.

In a way, that would have been much simpler for Wilson.

He sighed, rubbed his temples, then rubbed his hands together, for both warmth and worry. If he could scientifically break down how the Frost King worked, then he could put an end to this insufferable cold!

But again, there was that niggling doubt, the one that said he knew the Frost King from somewhere.


	19. What's In A Name?

**Time for Chapter 19, everybody! In which Wilson finds his wit's end….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! I'm glad you're liking this so far. ^^ Mmm, he _does_ bear a passing resemblance to Yugi around the head and face, but he also has a bit of a wolf face too. Hmm, related? I get the feeling that if that were the case, Yami would be thrilled while Yugi would be horrified. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson's idea of Yugi and Willow being willing assistants apparently included mining for more rocks. He knew they hated the job.

Which was why, Yugi supposed, he was having them do it.

"I thought you already had enough rocks for your boiler!" Willow complained.

"That doesn't mean I don't have other experiments I want to perform that require them," Wilson said superiorly. "And didn't I say you two were to be my _willing _assistants? No whining."

Yugi felt that it was going to be a long three weeks.

Wilson, meanwhile, seemed disappointed that Yami hadn't showed up. He was wearing a backpack that Yugi was sure was stuffed to the gills with scientific goodies, all ready for poking and prodding—

Wilson vanished.

Yugi blinked, then realized that he hadn't done so without help. Yami had pounced on the hapless scientist, and after expressing his glee at yet _another_ new friend, had bounded over to Yugi and Willow. "What are you doing?" Yami asked.

"Slave labor," Willow groused.

"We're mining rocks," Yugi told him. "What happened to your jingle bells?"

"I was with the wolves last night, and they prefer it if I don't make a whole lot of noise," Yami explained.

Wilson, meanwhile, had managed to flounder his way out of the snow. Yami went back over and examined him with interest.

"_You_," Wilson said, after recovering. "Need to learn that that is _not_ the proper way to greet people."

"It isn't?"

"No." Wilson stood up and dusted himself off. "Now if you don't mind—"

Yami was back watching them mine rocks. "Yami, we're going to be busy for a bit," Yugi said, noting Wilson's expression. "Why don't you play with Wilson for a while? He's got a lot of new games for you to try."

"Really?" Yami asked, suddenly interested in the scientist once again. Wilson managed to dodge the excited leap this time around.

"Yes," Wilson said slowly, fortunately catching on. He unshouldered his backpack. "And they do _not_ involve jumping on hapless scientists. Now if you'll wait a minute—"

* * *

Several hours later, Yugi and Willow had hollowed out a small cave in the cliff face. Wilson had tried sending them off to the village to begin the process of transporting the rocks, but had met with failure until Yugi had told Yami they'd be right back, stay here and play with Wilson.

Play with Wilson indeed.

In the past several hours, Wilson had come to the conclusion that he was dealing with someone who had the mentality of a child. If the Frost King _did_ cause this bitter cold, it was evident he either wasn't aware of it or had no control over it.

"Enlighten me," Wilson said finally. "What can I do to make this process easier?"

Yami tilted his head, then ducked down, obviously hoping for a "game" that was actually _fun_. He reminded Wilson very much of his old dog Chester—

Ah, idea.

"Sit," Wilson commanded, pointing at him. Yami went cross-eyed trying to look at the end of Wilson's finger, but complied. "Good. Now back to brass tacks—"

"Tacks?" Yami asked, confused. "What are those?"

Wilson tried very hard not to sigh. Yami's curiosity was enough to make him an honorary scientist right then and there, but it was beginning to wear Wilson thin. "They're small metal devices that hold paper to walls. Now—"

"What's paper?"

Wilson showed him one of his pages of notes. Yami looked at them. "What's all that dirt on them?"

"It's not dirt, it's writing," Wilson replied testily. "N—"

"What's writing?"

Wilson closed his eyes slowly, trying to keep his composure. How to explain writing to someone who didn't even have the faintest inkling on how to document language?

"So how's it going?"

Wilson glanced up to see Yugi and Willow had returned for another basket of rocks. Willow seemed very triumphant. Ugh.

"Are we going to be done soon?" Yami asked, obviously not happy with sitting still. "Did you bring lunch?"

Yugi glanced at Wilson and raised an eyebrow significantly. At that moment, Wilson dearly wished he were able to translate the myriad ways Yugi and Willow could communicate silently. "Maybe—we have to go back and get lunch, but if you haven't been playing nice with Wilson…."

Yami looked aghast at the implication, and then even more so when the idea that he wasn't getting lunch if Wilson didn't look happy. Yami looked distinctly _un_happy when they left and he turned back to Wilson.

Wilson brainstormed for a new plan. He distinctly did _not_ want an unhappy Frost King on his hands—he didn't like the idea of becoming a Wilson-cicle. But how to get—

Idea.

He sighed deeply, crossed over to one of the rock piles, and sat down with his head in his hands, employing every single shred of self-control not to jump up yelping immediately. Good gravy, those rocks were _cold_.

Sure enough, the temperature dropped a few degrees, indicating that Yami had come over to examine him. Probably worried about no lunch. Wilson rubbed his face and folded his hands to look at Yami. Yes indeed—the worry was plain on his face. He was again reminded of Chester, may that old dog rest in peace.

"What am I going to do with you?" Wilson asked, mildly rhetorical.

Yami tilted his head and bobbed it, as though thinking on the question. "Come up with better games?" he suggested finally.

Wilson sighed heavily again. Yami fidgeted a bit, then laid down, assuming what Wilson could only interpret as a submissive position.

"So what do _you_ want to do?" Yami asked.

Wilson blinked, realized that it wasn't worry about no food—it was worry about somehow upsetting Wilson. Odd. Beyond odd. "I want to ask you a few questions," Wilson explained. "But that's very difficult to do when you won't sit still and _listen_."

Yami sunk lower in the snow. Wilson sighed and stood up.

"Well, there are other things to do," he announced, heading for his backpack again.

"Like what?" Yami asked, perking up slightly.

"I could do some measurements—of course, there's the risk that I could freeze to death from that close proximity—"

Yami's expression was a mixture of confusion at the words used and horror at the idea of Wilson freezing. "What were your questions? I'll answer them, I promise."

Bingo. "All right then," Wilson announced, turning to him and readying his notebook and pen. "Your name—how did you get it?"

"_Huh?"_

"Your name is Yami, correct?"

"Yes."

"Did someone give you the name?"

"No."

"Did you hear it somewhere?"

"No."

"So why do you call yourself Yami?"

"Because it's my name."

Wilson sighed again, then quickly ceased the noise when he noticed it upset Yami. "No, no—maybe I can explain it better. What's _my_ name?"

"Wilson."

"And do you know why I'm called that?"

"Because it's your name?"

"Because I was given that name when I was born. Do you know what Willow's middle name is?"

"Middle name?"

"The name between her first and last name."

Wilson could see he had lost Yami completely. "Not everyone has one name," Wilson explained slowly. "Some people have two names: their given name and their family name—my given name is Wilson, but my family name is Higgsbury. And some people have names between those two, called middle names. Mine is Percival—_don't laugh_," he commanded, when he noticed Yami smirk. "And Willow's is Ember. Now back to my question: do you know why Willow's middle name is Ember?"

"I don't even know why your middle name is _Percival._"

"Hurr hurr. I was given that name at birth. Willow, however, wasn't given a middle name at birth—she wanted one, so she picked Ember, which only a handful of people are aware of."

"How do you fit a person in your hand?"

"It's a figure of speech."

"What are those?"

"Things people say." Wilson paused, trying to think of a better way to explain it.

"Do I need a middle name?"

"Probably not—like I said, not everyone has multiple names. Now back to the original question: was Yami a name you were given, or one you took?"

Yami thought about it, obviously still confused about the whole affair. "Neither," he said finally. "I've just always had it."

Wilson slapped his hand to his face. He wasn't getting anywhere.

"So how's it going?"

"I have a headache," Wilson announced, turning to see Yugi with a pot of what he could only hope was stew. "I see _your_ endeavors were fruitful."

"Mom was cooking," Yugi explained, then turned so the pot wasn't near Yami, who had approached hopefully. "Oh no, this isn't for you." Yami jerked back, confused. "Have you been nice to Wilson?"

Yami looked beseechingly at Wilson. It took him a moment to realize that Yami wouldn't answer, because _he_ didn't know if Wilson were happy with the whole thing or not.

"Yes," Wilson supplied finally. "He's been perfectly obliging."

Yami looked confused at the statement, but Yugi nodded and looked over his shoulder. Willow came forward with a second pot, which she set in front of Yami. "_This _is for you," Willow told him, taking the lid off and revealing that it was indeed stew.

Yami looked fit to burst from happiness.

Wilson was glad that at least one of them was.


	20. The Coming Storm

**Chapter 20, ladies and gents! Sorry it's posted so late in the day—FanFiction was having a 503 server error and I couldn't access my doc manager. :P Hopefully this being extra-long makes up for it.**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Heheheh….True, Wilson doesn't seem to have any patience at all….Although, it's been my experience that the more educated a person is, the less patience they tend to have—so Wilson will be at the end of his rope for a long long time. :D**

**And now for a minor announcement: starting next week, the update schedule for _The Frost King_ will switch to Tuesdays and Saturdays. This is partially due to my other current story, _Chaos Avatar Desertion_, being upped to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, and partially due to me feeling that a Saturday-Monday update schedule was too close. Hopefully that's all right with everyone.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"So how _did_ it go?"

Wilson had been quiet on the way back home, but that was nothing new to Yugi or Willow—the scientist was often lost in thought, and would sometimes go days without speaking.

"It…went," Wilson said finally. "His level of maturity is negligible at best."

"I noticed," Yugi said.

"So he's a baby Frost King?" Willow asked. "Does that mean there's adult Frost Kings somewhere? Frost _Queens?_"

Yugi blinked. "No…Yami said he was the only one."

"He did?"

"Well, he might as well have—he doesn't know if there are any others like him."

"And how on earth did you glean _that_ bit of information?" Wilson asked. Yugi noted he sounded a bit testy and divined the reason.

"When you're talking to him next time, try this," Yugi instructed. "Tell him you'll answer one of _his_ questions if he'll answer one of yours. Just be careful—he takes the questions literally."

"How so?"

"I asked him once if could ask a question and he took that as _the_ question I asked."

"Hmm," Wilson noised.

They were within earshot of others now, so conversation on Yami had to halt. "So uh, I guess we've got to help you with the boiler now, huh?" Yugi asked, hoping that wasn't the case. Willow kicked him for reminding Wilson.

"No, no, you two go get some rest," Wilson said, taking the steps down once they were in. "I've got big plans for you tomorrow."

Willow glared at Yugi. "Now how am I supposed to enjoy having the evening off if I know what's coming?" Willow asked.

Yugi did a quick mental calculation. "By knowing we only have twenty more days of this?"

"I'll be dead by then."

Yugi thought, then smirked. "You know, we _could_ always teach Yami how to play a snowball fight when Wilson's not looking."

Willow's expression was devious. "I _love_ it."

"See? Now we have something to look forward to," Yugi announced, heading into the great hall. Mmm, more stew—and the joys of explaining the difference to Yami.

* * *

Wilson, meanwhile, was in his basement lair, sitting in front of the boiler and staring at it. What to do about this Frost King….Willow had raised a good point about if there were more….

The quiet niggling doubt was back.

Wilson sighed and started tinkering. Yugi seemed to know a lot about how Yami ticked, and Yami seemed perfectly willing to listen to _him_….

Maybe he could take advantage of that.

* * *

"Yay, more rock moving."

This declaration of sarcastic joy came from Willow. Yugi couldn't blame her—the work was back-breaking.

"Are we being punished?" Yugi asked.

"Yes," Wilson replied promptly, supervising.

"I thought so," Yugi agreed. "Normally assisting with _science_ is more fun."

"You have to take the tedious with the exciting. On that same subject, where _is_ Yami?"

"Normally he shows up when no one else is around," Yugi said, indicating some people off in the distance. They could barely see them, but still. "I told him to never come around when someone else is about."

"Wise advice," Wilson conceded. "But not very conductive to science. Come—there's other tedious labor that science requires of you."

* * *

There had been no complaints when Wilson recommended other labor. They had brought the last load of rocks to Frostmore, picked up a large lunch (a good chunk of which was for Yami), and went off in search of the Frost King.

At least, Wilson was. Yugi was busy locked in silent argument with Willow. He wanted to know what they were doing beyond aimlessly searching for Yami, and Willow didn't want him to aggravate the situation further. His aching muscles agreed with her.

"This looks like a good place," Wilson said finally, stopping near a cluster of trees. "And it's nicely out of the way. You two," he continued, turning to them. "Are going to be gathering wood. I have some axes here—"

"_NO!"_ Yugi hollered, realizing he recognized the cluster of trees. They were _the_ cluster of trees—the one Lief had gone to.

"Are you all right?" Willow asked, sounding slightly amused.

"Don't yell like that," Wilson told him, waving his hands slightly. "You'll bring an avalanche down on us."

"Sorry," Yugi muttered. "But uh, I am _not_ touching those trees."

"And why not?" His hands were on his hips now.

Yugi made a few waffling motions with his hands, then finally flopped them down to his sides. "I can't say. There's no sane way _to_ say it."

"Try me."

Yugi hemmed and hawed, but finally relented under Wilson's level stare. "Because the tree will kill me if I do."

"Only if it falls on you."

"Uh…actually, this one stands up."

Willow nodded. "You're right. It's crazy."

"Trees do not stand up—" Wilson started.

"This one does!" Yugi wailed.

"Now, now—remember what I said?" Wilson asked, handing him a hanky. "Blow in this." Yugi did so. "Now for the last time, trees do _not_ stand—"

Wilson vanished abruptly.

"Hi Yami," Willow chimed. The Frost King in question bounded around Wilson happily before loping over to them.

"So what are we doing today?" he asked them.

"Trying to get killed," Yugi told him. "I tried telling them about Lief, but they wouldn't listen."

_"Lief?"_ Willow asked.

"Well, Lief _does_ look like a crotchety, jerky, downright grumpy old tree," Yami conceded, scratching behind an ear. "But once you get to know him, you'll realize that he _is_ a crotchety, jerky, downright grumpy old tree."

A tree in the clump shook violently in response. "You are and you know it!" Yami yelled at the tree.

"Is he talking to a tree?" Willow asked.

"And he's talked the tree to death too," Yugi told her. "I think Lief—the tree—probably stood up the first time just to get away from him."

More rustling. "He says yes he did—_hey!"_ Yami objected, when he realized what they meant.

Wilson had managed to extricate himself from the snow pile Yami had face-planted him into. "Yami, do you know where any deadfall is that Lief wouldn't mind parting with?" Yugi asked.

"Sure!" Yami chimed. "This way!"

* * *

It had been a full day, but Wilson seemed overly frustrated, even by his standards.

Yugi noted that he had followed his advice on how to talk to Yami, but Yami's lack of knowledge seemed to be getting in the way of everything. Yugi didn't think Wilson had gotten anything of value from their conversation.

Yami kept trying to start a conversation with the scientist, but without success. "Leave him alone, Yami," Yugi told him. "Wilson gets like this—he's busy calculating deep scientific discoveries and formulas, and until he's done, he won't say three words to anyone."

"What's his record?" Willow asked, thinking. "A month?"

"I think a month."

Yami was looking at Wilson in a new light. "You mean he doesn't say anything for a whole _month?"_

"He can still hear you," Wilson commented testily.

"He might not break his old record," Willow observed.

"I don't think you have enough to do."

"I can't imagine not talking for a month," Yami stated.

"I bet," Yugi said.

"It'd be just too quiet. The only good time for that is a snowstorm. We'll be having one tonight."

They looked at him. "What, did you decide that just now?" Willow asked.

"No."

"What then?" Wilson asked.

"I can feel it," Yami said, looking up. "It's like…a feeling…and it gets stronger when the storm's bigger."

"Well that's maddeningly unhelpful," Wilson muttered. "But scientifically interesting."

"How big is the storm going to be, Yami?" Yugi asked.

They had reached a clearing now. Yami sat down and looked up.

He was silent for a full minute before speaking again.

"It's going to be big. Really big. Most of the animals are going to go into hibernation for this one."

"How long is it going to be?" Wilson asked, notebook out and scribbling.

Another minute of silence. "A few…you said something about clusters of days?"

"Weeks are seven days long," Willow supplied.

"Then…two weeks."

They were silent again, staring at Yami, who was still looking up at the sky, content with the weather. "Two _weeks?"_

"It'll be spectacular," Yami continued. "Lots of snow for playing in—a few feet at least. Definitely some of the fluffy stuff that's good for rolling around in."

Wilson was staring at him, hands looking nerveless.

He interrupted the reverie finally by snapping his notebook shut.

"Right," Wilson announced. "We need to get ready."


	21. The Diagnosis

**And now for Chapter 21, in which things happen and Wilson has to be the bearer of bad news….And it's the first day of the new schedule! What do you all think?**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Aha, yes, a little advance warning would have been better, but my Mom senses storms a few hours to a whole day before they happen, so I'm guessing it's not an exact science. It went on vacation, I'm going to say….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The next three days were spent with Wilson, Joey and Tristan in the cramped basement, working on the boiler.

Yugi and Willow were acting mostly as gofers, making sure that everyone had everything they needed for scientific advancement. After three days, Yugi could finally see something in the metallic mess the three had been working on.

It looked like it could work.

"Okay," Wilson said, blowing on his hands to warm them. "Now we put snow in the belly here, light a fire beneath it, and the steam should warm up the rest of the building."

"Or, y'know, we just cram everybody down here," Joey said, rubbing at his arms. "Tristan said something about that the other day."

"Oh sure, blame me," Tristan groused.

Yugi and Willow simply watched the older kids and waited patiently for Wilson to do what they all had been waiting for.

Wilson's hand hesitated on the lever.

"Just _do_ it," Willow commanded.

Wilson did so.

There was a mechanical whirring as the machine struggled to life. Yugi started to feel a little warmer.

"I think it might be working," Yugi announced.

"Not properly," Wilson said, examining something in the ceiling. "Tristan, I told you to work on this."

"Got it," Tristan said, fiddling with something where Wilson was looking. Yugi wished he had a better angle.

They waited a few more minutes, Joey feeding the fire beneath the boiler.

Yugi could hear the now-water bubbling.

It was a full hour later that Wilson finally said what they all had been hoping for.

"Gentlemen—and lady," he said, dipping his head towards Willow. "I believe we have achieved success."

* * *

Yami sat outside his home, happily watching the storm roll in.

Woo yes, it _was_ going to be a doozy. Just look at how those clouds roiled!

Yami bounced happily a bit at the thought and the wording. Hanging around _three_ new friends had certainly expanded his vocabulary. He would have to thank Cardinal-friend for introducing him to Yugi—

That took the wind out of Yami's sails. He had met Yugi due to the fact that he was dying in a snowstorm just like this one. No…one weaker than this one.

Yami suddenly felt something he wasn't accustomed to.

A bad feeling deep in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

Over the next few days, Yugi did note a minor change in the temperature in the hall, although Wilson attributed this to the heavy blanket of snow coating it and refused to give his boiler much credit.

"I don't get it," Yugi said to Willow as they sat in front of the fire, darning clothes. "He goes to all this trouble, and then when it's finally working, he doesn't think it works."

"It's a science thing," Willow replied sagely. "He's hedging his bets so he can look all smart once it works."

"Now Miss Willow, that is not the case," Wilson said, coming up with fresh clothes in need of repair. "I know _just_ how smart I am, and I don't _need_ anyone else to know."

_"Right_," Yugi and Willow chimed.

Wilson _harrumphed_ and deposited the clothes, crossing over to converse with Joey, who was sitting next to his sister.

Yugi felt his eyebrows knit at that. It was strange…Joey had been sticking close to his sister Serenity ever since she developed that cough….It wasn't much, but it had been niggling at her for over a week now. Maybe she was coming down with something. And if she was coming down with something…they all would. They were in an enclosed environment for the next two weeks, according to Yami. There was no getting away from the germs.

"Do you think Serenity's contagious?" Yugi asked Willow in an undertone.

"I'd be worried more if Joey was," Willow replied, not bothering to keep her voice down.

"I heard that!" Joey yelled.

Yugi rolled his eyes and went back to work. That hadn't answered his question. If Serenity was contagious, Ushio or one of the other guards might send her out in the cold. If they did that, then Joey would go with her. If Joey went, Tristan might go too—that made three gone.

Yugi glanced over; Wilson was over there, scientific tools in hand, talking with Serenity and taking her temperature and using a stethoscope (which was not pre-heated—Yugi knew that for a fact) to listen to her heartbeat.

He wondered if anything was wrong.

* * *

"Well?"

It was late, and most everyone else was asleep. Only a handful of adults were awake and conversing, and Wilson was sitting with them, plus Joey and Ushio—who had taken some time off of guard duty to attend.

Wilson knew the real reason for this circle—had known it the minute he had said something about bad news: they were there to potentially prevent Mr. Joseph "Joey" Wheeler from doing something incredibly stupid.

Wilson, however, didn't feel in any particular hurry to share this parcel of bad news. It made him sick to think about it, but he realized there was no choice. He took a deep breath and said it.

"It's your sister, Mr. Wheeler. She's…ah…."

"She's dying," Ushio said, all bluntness.

Joey spun around. "_What?"_

"It's obvious."

"And you're remarkably blunt," Yugi's mother, Hannah, noted.

"It's pneumonia," Wilson said, intercepting Joey before he could physically assault Ushio. "It…I'm pretty sure it's complications from being in this sort of weather so long—"

"_So?_" Joey seethed, turning his ire towards Wilson instead. He shoved Wilson away, sending him tumbling into Ushio. "You're the egghead! _Fix her!"_

Ushio righted Wilson. "I _can't_, Mr. Wheeler," Wilson said testily, straightening his shirt out. "We don't have that sort of technology anymore." A moment of confusion flicked across Joey's face. "We don't have much of anything left here anymore," Wilson sighed.

"But you're the resident genius! _Fix her!"_

"We didn't have anything like that in the Sunlit Kingdom," Hannah's grandfather, Solomon put in sagely.

"Of course you didn't," Wilson retorted. "The heat and the dryness would dry up any cough."

"So let's go!" Joey said, waving his arms. "We head for this place and be done with it!"

"Did your brain freeze recently?" Ushio asked. "We're snowed in. Even without this storm, no one's ever made it past the Pass. The Frost King got them all."

Wilson grimaced at that; he couldn't link Yami with that image anymore.

"So we get everyone together and rush the Pass! We've been wanting to get out of here for ages!"

Wilson glanced at Hannah and Solomon, who had glanced at each other. It wasn't lost on Ushio, but he was too preoccupied with Joey to comment. "So we all die?"

Joey looked winded. "So my sister dying is better than everyone dying?"

"I didn't say that."

"Oh sure! Trust me, I got what you said! And I'm not putting my sister on the chopping block fer you!"

And with that, Joey stomped off.

Wilson watched him go with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There went three more denizens of Frostmore.

He turned—

And caught a glimpse of something.

There, snuggled with Willow, was Yugi. Wide awake, but feigning sleep, there was something very horrified in his expression when he locked eyes with Wilson.

Wilson sighed and walked off.


	22. The Promise

**Chapter 22, everybody! In which my computer steamed me by corrupting my file for _The Frost King_—but don't worry, I'm smarter than the computer: I have back-up copies. :) So the rise of the machines might have been delayed slightly….And has anyone else noticed that these chapters have been longer lately?...**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! You've hit the nail on the head—things are going to happen. What things? Let's find out….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"What do we do about Joey?"

The very question Wilson had been dreading. Well, at least Yugi was nice enough to get it out of the way first thing, instead of letting it fester all day.

"We do nothing right now," Wilson said, when he realized that Yugi and Willow were still waiting for an answer. "If we think he's getting ready to make a break for it, we talk him down. If he just leaves, we go after him and bring him back. So we'll need kits ready for making the trip."

Willow was tugging at Yugi's sleeve. Yugi looked at her, looked down, then looked at Wilson.

"What if we got Yami to help?" Yugi asked.

One of these days, Wilson would have to figure out how those two held a conversation without speaking like they did. Granted, Yugi's suggestion _had_ occurred to Wilson, but he had resolved not to be the one to bring it up. "I'm not sure," he hedged. "Do you think he would, if you asked?"

Yugi was quiet. Thinking.

"Yes," he said finally. "I'm sure."

"Then should Mr. Wheeler decide to leave, we will enlist his help in assisting him."

There was something in Yugi's expression—confusion.

Willow was the first to realize it. "Wait a minute," she said. "This is his _sister—it's_ not _if_ he goes, it's _when_."

Wilson inclined his head.

"So we make sure we're ready when he _does_ make his decision."

* * *

Yugi couldn't sleep that night.

The idea of Serenity dying…sure, he wasn't that close to her, but he _was…kind_ of friends with her brother, and he had seen her once or twice….The idea of how subdued Joey would be….

…And then the idea of leaving.

Part of him thrilled at the chance to get away from there. To finally see the Sunlit Kingdom that his grandfather always talked about. To live in a place that wasn't forever locked in deadly cold.

But then what?

He realized he couldn't tell his mom or his grandfather. If he did, then they would have to go. If they did, then more would have to go, until the whole village would follow.

And then Yami. Their whole plan hinged on Yami agreeing to help them. And even if he did—Yugi was almost certain he would—it might be easier to convince one or two unarmed people, but a whole _village_….

Yugi tossed and turned next to Willow, his family once again locked in conference with the other "adults of import," as Wilson had termed them. Finally, he rolled over.

"Willow, are you asleep?"

"Yes," she replied promptly.

"I'm worried."

"I couldn't tell."

Yugi wished it was daylight. It was so much easier for him to telegraph what he was thinking to her through their weird way of communication. That, and it annoyed Wilson to no end to watch them converse and have absolutely no idea what they were saying. Yugi sometimes didn't wonder if perhaps that was the real reason they had developed that. Or maybe they had always conversed like that, and he was just now noticing it better.

"Did you fall asleep?" Willow asked. "Please tell me you fell asleep."

"No…it's…it's…I don't know," he finished lamely. He had realized that for Willow, her family _would_ be going with them—Wilson was really all she had. And Yugi was her best friend—everyone she cared about would be there.

"You two need to get some sleep."

Yugi was suddenly aware of something tall in front of them—Wilson. "Sorry," Yugi muttered.

"I _was_ asleep," Willow declared, although something in the timbre of her voice told him she was lying.

"I can't sleep—I'm worried," Yugi said.

Wilson shook his head, obviously exasperated with them. "Get some sleep," he commanded, in his best scientist voice. "I'm the adult here—I do all the worrying for all three of us. Got that?"

"Yeah," they muttered, huddling back into their blankets. Satisfied, Wilson carefully made his way through the dim lighting.

But Yugi couldn't help but worry.

* * *

It was a few days later when it happened.

Tristan sought Wilson out, wanting to talk to him alone. When Yugi and Willow insisted on staying, Tristan blurted it out.

"Joey's gone. He took his sister with him."

Yugi glanced at Willow, Willow glanced at Yugi, and then they both looked at Wilson, who bowed his head slightly in thought.

"Three days," he said finally. "He held out longer than I thought. Go get the kits, you two."

Tristan watched them run off in disbelief. "Wait a minute—you _knew?_"

"I _guessed_, Mr. Taylor, there _is_ a difference," Wilson corrected. "I have to go get a few things—you'd better pack in a hurry, too. We'll meet in five minutes."

Tristan dashed off, leaving Wilson to duck into his basement and gather all the necessary equipment he thought he ought to bring on such a journey. It would mean he would carry two bags, but so be it. Despite Yugi's insistence, he didn't think that the Frost King would be entirely worried about their well-being.

He reached the ground level and slowed to a stop.

There was one thing he had to do before he left. His conscience wouldn't let him leave otherwise.

He went into the hall and sought out Yugi's mother, Hannah Moutou, busy trying to make soup out of pretty much nothing. Hopefully the foragers would find something today.

But then, now there would be six less mouths to feed.

"Good morning, Hannah, having a good day?" he asked, trying very hard not to fidget.

"I'm fine, Wilson," Hannah said, sparing him a glance. "Why don't you go and make a device that makes food out of thin air?"

"I've tried—I haven't been able to get the conceptualization down."

She snorted in a burst of laughter and finally looked at him properly. "Are you all right?"

Wilson gave a strained sort of smile. "I'm fine, honestly—I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, but what else is new?"

"I could hit you with a frying pan—I bet that would help."

"I'd rather you didn't—I have a busy itinerary for the next few weeks."

"_Right_. Well, I won't keep you then."

And she waved him off.

He took three steps away before turning back to her.

"Hannah….You know I wouldn't let anything happen to your son, right?"

She gave him a strange look, but finally nodded. "I know. What, are you planning some sort of weird science experiment?"

"Something like that."

"Just make sure he's still in once piece when you're done."

Wilson took a deep breath.

"I promise."

And with that, he left the hall.


	23. Leading to the Lair

**Chapter 23, everybody! We're off to see the Frost King! :D**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! True, true—but writing "Joey" is a lot simpler than writing "Jonouchi" (I've called him Jonouchi in a few of my other stories, and I've found it to be a bit time-consuming). Good question, considering Yami's personality….And I am well, thank you! :) Maybe when it comes back you ought to tie it to a chair (I've had to do that to a few of my characters at times…).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"Joey? I'm not sure about this."

"Don't worry about it," Joey reassured, tugging harder on the sled. Oi, travelling through snow was hard. But he had to. No one at Frostmore was doing anything—he had to take the—what was that long word Wilson liked to use? Initiative. That was it.

"It's all right, sis," he continued, more to convince himself than her. She was absolutely certain that Joey knew what he was doing. She had total blind faith in him.

He couldn't let her down.

"What about the Frost King?" she asked, eyes wide with fear.

"What about him?" Joey blustered. "I'm not scared of that goon!"

"To be honest, your judgment isn't all that sound to begin with."

Joey yelped in alarm, but recovered quickly when he saw Wilson stepping away from some trees ahead. "Scare me, whydoncha?" he snapped, aggravated. "What are you doin' here anyway?"

"Helping you, you big lummox," Tristan said, coming up behind them and pushing the little sled Serenity was on. "Hi Serenity."

"Hi Tristan!" she said brightly. "So you're coming too?"

Joey turned back to Wilson in time to see Yugi and Willow peek around. "What is this, an intervention?"

Wilson tilted his head. "Of sorts."

"I've already made up my mind—"

"We know," Tristan said, shoving a bit more. "We're helping you two get off the mountain—or weren't you paying attention?"

Joey looked back at Wilson, who had one hand on his hip. "Why the surprised look? We're all perfectly aware of your capabilities on your own."

Joey grumbled, but finally managed a "thank you" after a few minutes.

Wilson nodded, satisfied, then turned to Yugi. "Lead the way, Mr. Moutou."

Yugi nodded and set off, Willow close behind him. Wilson indicated that they follow.

"Wait," Joey said, blinking. "Where is _he_ going?"

"You're not paying attention again, Mr. Wheeler," Wilson said sternly. "We're getting off this mountain, and young Mr. Moutou knows how."

* * *

Yugi _really_ wished that Wilson didn't put so much stock in him.

He also wished that he had had the chance to talk to Yami before trying to introduce him to three new people. He was almost certain that Tristan had packed some weapons for hunting, and he could see Joey's bow and quiver on his back. This was going to end _so_ badly.

Willow touched his arm, silently reassuring him. He glanced at her and lifted his head a bit higher. He could do this. He had befriended the Frost King. He could do this.

When they neared the entrance to the Pass, Yugi veered off to the side and began climbing the slope that led up to Yami's lair…home…thing.

"Shouldn't we be going this way?" Joey asked, pointing towards the Pass.

"You've got to trust me," Yugi said, wishing his voice didn't squeak so. "This…uh…this is going to seem, well, dangerous, but you've got to trust me when I say it's going to be all right."

Joey and Tristan both looked like they were going to argue, but were stilled by a glance from Wilson. Understandable. Wilson commanded more respect from them than Yugi did. Quiet little unassuming Yugi whose one achievement thus far was to survive a blizzard.

He just hoped that revealing his _real_ achievement didn't get them killed.

* * *

It took the better part of an hour to get up a slope that had taken three seconds to slide down.

"Okay," Yugi gasped, hot in spite of the cold. "We're here."

Joey flopped down, Tristan not far behind. Serenity glanced around from her spot on the sled, fairly happy with her surroundings.

"Hey look!" she exclaimed. "I can see Frostmore from here!"

They looked where she pointed. Mounds of snow and tiny black dots representing people were all that differentiated Frostmore from the rest of the mountain wastes.

Yugi felt an indescribable feeling seize his chest. Frostmore was all any of them really knew. The world was huge out there. How would they handle themselves? Would they ever return?

Serenity coughed, sounding like she was trying to hold it in and not alert them.

The spell was broken. He _had_ to do this.

"I…I want everyone to know," Yugi announced. "That this is going to look _really_ dangerous, but it's not, okay?"

"What is it?" Tristan asked.

"I…I have a friend who could help us get away from here."

Joey instantly perked up. "Seriously? Who is it?"

Yugi hesitated. "Ah….Before I tell you, you have to promise not to freak out or anything."

"Get on with it," Tristan commanded.

"Not until I get a guarantee from you three."

Joey looked at Wilson and Willow. "Not you?"

"We already know," Willow responded.

"All right, _fine_," Joey agreed; Tristan and Serenity nodded. "Now who is it?"

Yugi had kind of been hoping for a timely tackle of Wilson by now. Ah, but there were new people, and he had warned Yami off of that. So….

Yugi went to the edge, making sure to be next to the ice wall as well, and bellowed.

_"Yami! I have some new friends I'd like you to meet!"_

He sincerely hoped that would be enough.

Joey let a moment pass before speaking.

"_Yami?_ Who's Yami?"

"He's our friend—or weren't you listening?" Willow asked.

Yugi was beginning to feel ridiculous. He turned to consult Wilson or Willow—

And saw Yami sneaking up behind Serenity.

Well, _sneaking _wasn't exactly the appropriate word, since he moved so quietly over snow. But Yugi could guess what would happen if he didn't alert everyone to the fact. "Yami is…right over there," he said, pointing.

Everyone turned to look.

"Hi," Yami said to Serenity, apparently fascinated by her red hair.

She still shrieked and fell sideways off the sled.

Joey and Tristan, of course, reacted accordingly, yelling at Yami, rushing him, readying weapons, startling him—

Yami ramped up to his hind legs in surprise, went too far, and fell down the slope with a yelp.

It was silent on the mountain plateau. Joey, Tristan and Serenity were such from surprise. Yugi was from worry. And apparently, Wilson and Willow were settling for silently observing the event. Wilson was taking notes, Yugi noticed.

Joey broke the silence first.

_"Did you see that? Did you see what I just did!?_" he exclaimed, looking at Tristan and pointing down the slope.

"Last I checked, _I_ helped," Tristan shot back. He hadn't sheathed the small knife he had.

"What was that? Was that the Frost King?" Joey seemed to have momentarily forgotten the rest of them in favor of the two people who occupied the most of his time. "He had to be ten feet tall!"

"Actually, he's eight feet standing up," Wilson corrected, still writing. "The rack just makes it look like ten."

Joey suddenly seemed to notice the rest of them, and it was with open suspicion that he eyed them.

"We're not wraiths, Joey," Yugi said quickly, deciding to head off any potential violence. "That _was_ the Frost King—his name is Yami."

Joey seemed speechless. His expression hadn't shifted.

"That _thing_ has a _name?"_ Tristan asked, also incredulous.

Yugi saw Yami's head pop up over the edge. "Ask him yourself."

They turned around to see Yami looking at them, slightly puzzled, mostly amused.

Interest was added when Joey knocked an arrow and pointed it at him.

"Remember what I asked?" Yugi said, moving forward. "No shooting—"

He tripped, grabbed Joey's arm on the way down, and pulled him down with him. The arrow went flying.

Yami went after it.

"You can't shoot him," Yugi said, managing to get straightened up while Joey was still floundering.

"Give me one good reason—" Joey began.

"Serenity's a good reason."

Joey went quiet at that.

"I'm not asking you to be friends with him," Yugi continued. "I'm just asking you to be nice to him until we're off the mountain and out of the snow fog."

Joey still looked mutinous, but finally relented. "Fine," he snapped, sitting up. "I'll be nice to the goon, but I'm not going to be happy about it."

"That's all I ask."

Yami popped back up with the arrow held in his mouth. "And Yami, you behave," Yugi chided.

Yami responded by depositing the arrow and nudging it over to Joey.

Joey did a slow take to Yugi.

"Remember your promise," Yugi said, then got to his feet.

"Yami, this is Tristan and Joey," Yugi said to the Frost King, pointing at the respective characters. "And this is Joey's sister, Serenity."

"Hi hi hi," Yami said to each of them in turn, and then directed his attention back to Serenity's apparently fascinating red hair.

Joey stepped between them.

"There's this thing," Joey growled. "It's called personal space. Learn about it."

"What is it?" Yami asked honestly.

"Later," Yugi said, waving to redirect his attention. "We need to get through the Pass and off the mountain—do you think you could help us?"

That was it—that was the question. This was the moment of truth—

Yami tilted his head, and there was something barely perceptible that shifted in his expression….

And then it was gone and Yami was nodding. "Sure!"

Yugi nearly collapsed from relief. "Great!" he said, nodding. "Now before we go, there's something really important you have to get from your home—"

"Oh, right! Hold on!"

And Yami bolted through the ice that formed the entrance to his home.

Yugi turned, triumphant; noticed everyone's wide-eyed stares. He was about to ask what was up, when he remembered that he had been the only one to see Yami do that before. "He can do that," Yugi said lamely, half-pointing.

Wilson was madly scribbling in his notes now, while Joey and Tristan exchanged glances and then looked up in a _Why me?_ gesture.

Yugi looked at Willow, who shrugged.

Yami came bounding back out, quite proud of himself. Yugi couldn't resist slapping himself in the face.

Yami had gone back in for his jingle-bells.

"_No_, Yami," Yugi said patiently, taking a deep breath. "I meant the _sled_."

Yami tilted his head, confused.

Yugi shook his head and walked for the ice, waving Yami forward. "I'll be right back," he said to the others.


	24. The Guessing Game

**Chapter 24, everybody! In which my computer shows itself to be exceptionally frustrating by corrupting my file for _The Frost King_ once again. Remind me to again thank my Mom for recommending back-up copies—otherwise there would be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. :(**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Haha, yes, they _are_ important to Yami—they're the first gift from a friend he's ever received, come to think of it….Don't worry, they'll come around eventually.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"Come on, Yami, you've got to help me here."

Yugi wasn't about to ask Yami to drag someone else through the ice, so he knew he had to settle for getting the sled packed himself. Unfortunately, he wasn't confident in his packing abilities, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd forget something important.

Yami wasn't any help either—he kept viewing it all as some sort of game….

Wait a minute….

"Yami," Yugi called, prompting Yami to look up; he was holding a pair of snowshoes, oddly enough. "I have an idea. Push this sled out, and I'll tell you about a new game we can play."

* * *

The game, as Yugi described it to the others, were for them to take turns describing something and then for Yami to try to find it and bring it out. Joey and Tristan were understandably unimpressed, but Willow seemed to like it—or maybe she was just trying to offer some support.

Yugi, meanwhile, was forced to explain everything while Yami was bounding back and forth. Yugi explained the whole true events of his two days away from Frostmore, while Wilson was busy organizing items on the sled.

"I still don't believe he didn't turn you into a wraith," Joey muttered, although by this point, Yugi had the feeling he was just being difficult.

"I don't think he can," Yugi replied.

Willow nodded. "He's really just a baby Frost King."

Her description had the expected effect. "There's _more?"_ Joey asked, aghast.

"The general consensus is _no_," Wilson opined.

Yami bounded back out and dropped something metallic at Wilson's feet. "Ta-da! Is that it?" he asked, looking at the…electrical doodad that Wilson picked up.

"Yes…I didn't think you actually had one."

Yami nodded happily and leapt in front of Tristan. "You next! You next! What am I looking for?"

Tristan looked over at Yugi, who nodded. "Um, give me a minute," Tristan said, turning back to Yami. "Ah…a hunting knife. It looks like this, but bigger," he described, holding up his knife.

Yami looked at it, bounded into his home, and bounded back out less than a minute later. "Is this it?" he asked, dropping what looked like a _huge_ carving knife in its sheath at Tristan's feet.

"It's close enough," Tristan said, unsheathing the knife. "Holy cow…."

Yami looked blankly at Yugi. "It's an expression," Yugi explained.

Yami made a face, then looked at Serenity, only for Joey to stand in between them. "Okay, you next," Yami said.

Joey glanced at Yugi, who made a face at him. "Dah…go…find a shovel. It's some flat thing."

Yami swiveled his ears and dashed back in.

"Okay, so you're not a wraith," Joey said, back to belligerent. "So? What about everything we've ever heard about the Frost King? No offense, Yug', but why did he bother saving you?"

Oog. Of all the questions Joey had to ask, he had to ask the one that Yugi asked himself multiple times. "I…have no idea, Joey," Yugi said finally.

"Great!" Joey snapped, slapping himself in the forehead. "So we're gonna follow this thing down a mountain which no one has ever gotten off of—oh yeah, and this thing is a _monster_, by the way—and when I ask about the one thing that may or may not make it all right the best answer you've got is _I don't know?"_

"Well I don't!" Yugi shot back, wishing he didn't sound so wimpy and whiny.

Joey seemed to be readying himself for another shot.

"You're absolutely right, Mr. Wheeler," Wilson interrupted before he could, never looking up from his sorting and packing. "You're completely correct in your assumptions. As a matter of fact," and here he held up a finger in that long-practiced gentleman-scientist way of his. "Why don't we let you go back to your initial plan? Or, better yet, why don't you ask him yourself and allay your fears?"

Joey turned to see Yami behind him, shovel held between his teeth.

"Is this it?" Yami asked, barely intelligible from talking with his mouth held open.

Joey nodded, eyes squinched shut. "I've killed myself and my sister," Yugi heard him mutter.

"To be fair, you were going to anyway," Wilson countered calmly, returning to his sorting.

Yugi glanced at Willow, who gave him a hopeful smile. Yugi returned it, grateful that the only "real" adult in their group was on his side. Joey would listen to Wilson, as much as it killed him to do so.

Yami took Joey's nodding as affirmation and deposited the shovel at Joey's feet. Before Joey could react, Yami was around him and sitting in front of Serenity, demonstrating one of his oddly human traits and—wait, Yami had pockets?

"This is for you," Yami announced, holding something small and colorful out in his open, black-clawed hand. She glanced at her horrified brother, who was waving _no_ behind Yami. She looked back to Yami, who still had that happy smile on his face. She finally accepted the toy—Yugi had become convinced in those short seconds that Yami had picked something out of his den—and once she did, Yami was sitting in front of Willow and giving her a little toy too. She didn't hesitate like Serenity did.

"Hey, look at that," Tristan said, glancing at Joey. "The Frost King is smoother with girls than you are."

Joey looked like he was about to strangle Tristan, but then finally talked himself out of it and settled for ducking down and throwing a quickly-made snowball at him. Yami looked thrilled at the new game; Willow looked devious. Yugi glanced at Wilson—who, only a short time ago, they were plotting the same fate for—who cleared his throat and attracted their attention.

"I'm fairly certain we're almost finished here," he declared. "We are still missing _one_ thing, however." This he said with an eyebrow raised at Yugi.

Yugi nodded. "Yami, I've got a new game for you," he said. "But first, you have to go find some reins…."


	25. Sledding Away

**Chapter 25, everybody! It's all downhill from here…as far as physical direction is concerned. :)**

**The sledding directions comes from reading Jack London books, and the names of the sled parts come from a sled diagram I looked up. Research is fun. :D**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Well, that _is_ how the group feels about it, so close enough. :) Shame on those words, failing you. And don't worry—Glint and his friends are still on. :D I just haven't had time to work on him this month due to school schedule and DeviantArt events (three things due this Saturday—and a final on top D: ). He'll have some air time next month, if he'd just sit still….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"Okay," Yugi said, holding up the harness as Wilson tied the reins to the sled. "Yami, this is a harness. You wear it."

"Okay," Yami said. Yugi stopped him before he bounded back into his home to find something else to ask about.

"No, you put it on," Yugi explained slowly. "And then you can carry the whole sled down the mountain without even lifting it!"

Yami looked suitably impressed, and was now examining the reins closely. "Really? How does it work?"

"Well, first we put it on you, like this," Yugi said, grateful that Willow was helping him—trying to get a harness meant for a dog around antlers and settled between wings as the one wearing it kept twisting to see what was going on…what a mess.

"Okay," Yugi said, when the reins were finally on Yami. "Wilson will be telling you what to do—'Mush' is go, 'Woah' is stop, 'Haw' is left, and 'Gee' is right. Are you with me so far?"

"Um, yes?" Yami said, sounding less than convinced.

Yugi exchanged glances with Willow: _oh boy…._"Just remember that 'Woah' means 'Stop', okay? That's the most important thing."

Yami seemed too busy examining the reins to care. Willow shrugged and got on the sled in front of Serenity, who was in front of Joey, who was in front of Tristan, with Wilson on the foot boards. Yugi sat in front of Willow nervously. Could Yami even pull their weight? The sled had to weigh upwards of five hundred pounds, not counting the supplies.

Yugi glanced backward at Wilson, who looked like he was trying to compose himself. Well, at least Yugi wasn't the only nervous one. Well, there was nothing for it…."Ready Yami?" Yugi asked; Yami glanced back at him. "Mush!"

Yugi had been expecting a strain at the reins, a slow start, a struggle to get going.

He hadn't expected to be off like a shot.

He heard something that sounded like a trumpet screaming, and hoped Wilson hadn't fallen off the sled. If he did, there was absolutely _no way_ he was catching up with the speed Yami was moving. "Yami! Slow down!" Yugi hollered, risking letting go of the top rail to grab one of the reins above his head.

Unfortunately, Yami took that as a cue to turn, sending the sled skittering sideways down the slope. Yugi heard a few more screams—probably from the girls, but considering how sore his throat had gotten, he worried that he might be a contributor. He reached up and tugged on the other rein, sending Yami straight down the slope again at a horrifying speed.

He risked a glance back, but couldn't see very much. He had a small impression of Wilson trying to literally rein Yami in, but most of his time was dedicated to holding on for dear life.

"Woah!" Yugi yelled finally, hoping Yami remembered. "_Woah!"_

Yami skidded to a halt.

The sled kept going—

The reins went tight—

And the back end skidded off a cliff hidden in a fog.

Later, Wilson would vehemently deny that he had screamed like a girl. Yugi and Willow, however, cherished the memory after he scrambled over the sled and to safety, Tristan and Joey—who was clinging to his sister—right behind him.

Yami seemed to finally notice that the sled was half-off a cliff and pulled it all the way onto solid ground. That settled, he trotted over to where Yugi was and sat down. "So?" he asked. "Did I do good?"

Yugi glanced at Joey and Tristan—they looked mutinous. Wilson, flopped down in the snow and thanking his maker for the narrow escape, wasn't in any fit shape to stop them. Yugi looked to Willow, who nodded and flicked open her lighter, ready to stare the boys down.

Yugi turned back to Yami.

"Yami," he said slowly. "When I say _slow down_, that means you _slow down_. **_Got it_**_?"_


	26. Songs in the Snow

**Chapter 25, everybody! In which we have a better time of sledding….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Haha, no—Yami's much too enthusiastic about these things. :D Thanks, I'm glad you like them! Yup! I have a plan….I'll probably be drawing more of Thanos and crew (the antagonists) initially, to make Glint jealous (it's worked before). Aha, yes, it's winter here in the States—they announced on the Weather Channel the other day that one of the New England states issued an arrest warrant for Queen Elsa. :D Yeah, it did, but it wouldn't leave me alone until I drew it—that's probably the only part of the play they know (or it's an outtake—like when the _Lackadaisy Cats_ characters are asked what they think of the artist).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Frozen © 2013 Disney (you'll see why this one's cited in a minute)**

The second attempt went a bit better than the first.

Granted, Yugi was pretty certain that it was seeing Serenity shaken up that prompted Yami to go slower, but he was willing to take the victories where they came. Besides, _they were getting off the mountain._

At least, Yugi was pretty sure they were.

It was all a whitish-gray, swirling winds and stinging ice. There was no horizon, no lines, nothing—if it weren't for gravity, Yugi wouldn't have been able to tell which way was up. As it was, the incline of the mountain told him they were steadily going down.

"It's…nothing," Serenity observed quietly. "It's nothing at all. It's like the world ended once we got off the mountain."

"Not necessarily," Wilson said, leaning on the handlebar, more at ease now that Yami was travelling at a reasonable pace. "Considering how tall the mountain _is_, this 'snow fog' is in all reality a large cloud system."

"So our heads are in the clouds?" Tristan asked.

"More or less."

Yugi couldn't help but smirk at that.

"How much longer do you think this is going to take?" Willow asked him quietly.

Yugi shrugged, twisting around in his seat a bit so he could look at her better. She looked bored.

"If it's like any good story, it's going to take a while," Yugi murmured, leaning back a bit so he could talk in her ear. "They don't put the mountain with the dragon on it right next to the castle."

"They do when they have a bad civic planner."

"This is true."

"It's quiet, isn't it?" Yami asked. "Really quiet. We ought to sing—that'll cheer things up."

Yugi moaned.

"He can sing?" Willow asked.

"He only knows two songs," Yugi muttered.

Yami proceeded to sing the peppier of the two, Jingle Bells. Serenity started to sing along, but was stopped by Joey.

"Don't—don't encourage it," he told her.

"He's not an _it,_" Serenity told him.

"That's one," Willow muttered in Yugi's ear.

Yugi nodded. At least it was a start.

* * *

Some time later—it was impossible to tell in the perpetual twilight of the snow-fog—the ground evened out.

"We can't be at the bottom already," Willow noised; the way she had moved told Yugi she had drifted off.

"This is probably a plateau," Wilson posed, glancing about.

Yugi followed suit, although he didn't think he'd see anything—

There was a moment where the snow fog swirled away—

It wasn't a plateau.

It was a land bridge.

And there was less than a foot of clearance on either side of the sled.

Yugi inhaled sharply—that pit might as well have been bottomless. One wrong move, and they would be plummeting down. Why did Yami—

Yugi glanced at the Frost King, who spared the drop a cursory glance before continuing along, having devolved to actually humming Jingle Bells rather than sing it outright.

"We're dead," Joey whined under his breath. "He's going to drop us right here, right now."

But they made it to the other side, the chasm disappearing behind them.

Willow glanced back at Joey. "You forgot to call him an _it_," she pointed out; Yugi could tell she was trying to use sarcasm to mask the tremor in her voice.

"Not now, Willow," Joey muttered.

* * *

A good while later—Yugi was just guessing now, since there was no good way to judge the time—they began going back up.

"Yami?" Yugi asked, startled out of the lull of the journey. "You're heading the wrong way."

"No," Yami said, not turning. "We're still heading in the right direction."

Yugi and Willow—and everyone else on the sled, Yugi noted—turned to look at Wilson. "Is he right?" Willow asked.

Wilson was checking his compass, tapping the glass and shaking it. "I don't know," he said finally. "The mountain must have some mineral deposits that throw off the magnetic readings of the compass…."

"I think he's stopped speaking English," Tristan muttered.

"Forget that," Joey said. "I think he's stopped speaking real words."

Wilson ceased his scientific discourse to glare at them.

Yami, meanwhile, was beginning to strain at the reins, now that they were going back uphill. "Yami, turn around," Yugi chided. "We got turned around and we're heading the wrong way."

"No!" Yami said flatly, the strain of pulling uphill reflecting in his voice. "We're going _exactly_ where we're supposed to! I don't get lost!"

Yugi felt his face twist in a worried grimace—he didn't want to prompt the Frost King to leave them stranded in this snow fog; they'd fall in that chasm they passed a while back trying to navigate. "Okay, Yami," Yugi said, trying to keep his voice soothing and even. "Just—try to calm down…."

"I _am_ calm," Yami replied, stiffening his legs so he could glance back at them. "I can _handle_ this."

Yugi swallowed hard. Now what? Did he go out on a limb and trust him, or did he go with his instinct and run away now?

"Sure, Yami," Yugi said finally. "Just…don't strain yourself, okay?"

Yami grinned confidently, revealing those wolfish teeth, and turned back to the task of pulling the sled uphill. Yugi felt Willow squeeze his shoulder gently. It didn't make him feel better.

The next thing he heard made him feel worse.

Yami was humming the only other song he knew to himself, more for his own motivation than for them, Yugi felt. As he began singing the words, Yugi felt everyone behind him freeze—not literally, of course, but….

But singing the song seemed to lend Yami strength—on every hard note, he'd jam a limb down and haul himself forward, long curving antlers tilting to provide a metronome for the music. And upon reaching the line "_Stronger than one—stronger than ten—stronger than a hundred men,"_ they reached the top of the hill.

They were rocketing downhill again, Yami singing gustily now, but Yugi could practically feel the worry radiating off of his companions.

What had he gotten them into?


	27. Stories by the Fire

**Chapter 27, everybody! In which the group camps and antics ensue….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Yup, music is awesome—I have some form of music playing all day while I work; it gets me in the mood for my stories. :D I'm excited for it too! I've already got something sketched out, so expect a new addition to the _Glint and the Pirates_ folder before the end of the month. Thanks! I'm glad you like it! :D I've been drawing all my life, and it seems the longer you've practiced, the shorter time it takes—so practice practice practice. :D Ooh, humanities, sounds fun—and they did! Three hundreds on the assignments and second place in one of the art contests! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Frozen © 2013 Disney (you'll see why in a minute)**

There was finally a change in the endless snow fog.

It was getting darker.

"It's getting late," Wilson observed, as they reached yet another plateau. "Stop here, Yami—we need to make a fire before night comes."

Yami continued on. "_Woah_, Yami," Yugi commanded sternly.

Yami stopped with a smug expression. "I remembered that _woah _meant _stop_," he told Yugi proudly.

"Good for you," Willow declared, falling sideways off the sled. "I think my legs fell asleep," she moaned.

Yugi settled for stretching his legs, gritting his teeth against the feeling of pins and needles dancing up and down them. Man, that sled was cramped. And it had been the big one in Yami's lair!

Although, Yugi reflected, watching Wilson pull some wood out of one of the packs and set a flat bit of metal on top of the snow, that wouldn't be a problem for much longer.

He hoped they left the mountain before their supplies ran out.

Wilson had a fire going on top of the metal square, and Yugi had to hop up and unhook Yami before he turned the sled around in his interest.

"You know, as a being made of snow and ice, you probably shouldn't hang near fire," Yugi pointed out.

Yami looked at him blankly.

"Wait, you just now figured this out?" Joey asked, sounding a little miffed.

"Don't listen to them," Willow said to Yami quietly. "They just don't understand how pretty fire is."

Sometimes, Yugi didn't understand Willow, either.

* * *

Night had fallen, food had been eaten, and now they were trying very, very hard to stay upbeat and calm.

The darkness around them was absolute—Yugi was certain that if he were to go out into it, he wouldn't be able to see his hand in front of his face.

The oppressive blackness put a damper on any celebration they may have mounted—everyone was quietly worried that they were irreparably lost, and Yugi couldn't help but notice that Joey and Tristan kept shooting Yami dark looks.

Wilson, meanwhile, was conversing with Yami, drawing a picture in the snow and trying to figure out where on the mountain they were. Difficult, considering Yami seemed more preoccupied with trying to mimic Wilson's doodling.

"Now stop that," Wilson ordered finally, pointing the stick he had been using at Yami. Yami went cross-eyed trying to look at it. "I'm trying to figure out where we are—you can play in the snow later."

Yami glanced at Yugi, confused. "We're right here, aren't we?" Yami asked slowly.

"I mean in relation to Frostmore," Wilson said testily, rapping Yami on the head with the stick.

Yugi looked at the sketches in the snow. One looked like half a mountain—Yugi guessed it was the path they had taken.

But the other sketch—it looked like a whole mountain and then some. But that didn't make any sense—how would Wilson know about the rest of the mountain if he'd never left Frostmore?

"Forget it," Wilson sighed, swiping the stick and striking out his sketches. "As near as I can figure, we're still a couple of days from getting off the mountain," he told them.

"We should do something to cheer us up," Serenity said. "Getting off the mountain is a good thing, and we're all acting gloomy."

Willow nodded, and Yami perked up at the idea of doing something _fun_.

An hour later, the darkness was forgotten, and now Wilson was singing about warm weather (he had a pretty good singing voice, Yugi was surprised to note). And then Yami—who had been hopping about Wilson with glee at the gentleman scientist's energetic act, was singing and dancing along with him as the rest of them provided a beat.

"_And I can't wait to see,"_ Yami sang, rich baritone contrasting nicely with Wilson's trumpety voice. "_What my buddies will think of me! Just imagine how much cooler I'll be in summer!"_

"I'm gonna tell him," Joey announced.

"Don't you dare!" Serenity chided.

But Joey brought up a good point, Yugi thought.

What would happen to Yami once he encountered warm weather?

* * *

Wilson stood guard, back to the fire so he wouldn't be blinded.

He needn't have bothered. Everyone else had hunkered down to sleep, and he had been staring into the darkness for that long, and it didn't get any less murky. He wouldn't have been surprised if there was some sort of monster lurking in that blackness, just waiting for him to step out of the ring of light, or let it go out—

Which reminded him; he turned and tossed another piece of wood onto the fire.

He regretted not pressing on and finding shelter—the heat went straight up without really warming the area. The kids were all clustered together, fairly close to the fire, and Yami…Yami was on the edge of the light, looking out at the dark. Wilson wondered what he was thinking.

Wilson shook his head and turned to where he was certain south must be. South to heat, south to sun….

South to persecution, if he wasn't careful.

"Aren't you tired?"

Wilson started at Yami's sudden question; the Frost King had come up right next to him without his noticing. "I've conditioned myself over the years to operate on little sleep," Wilson said, once his heart resumed normal action. "Unfortunately, it has the side effect of me not following normal sleep patterns. No, I'm not tired," he added, when he saw Yami's absolutely confused expression.

Yami hunkered down next to him, apparently trying to see what he was looking at.

"Can you tell me a story?" he asked suddenly.

Wilson looked at him. "Huh?"

"I want a story," Yami insisted.

"A story would be nice," Willow noised sleepily.

"_You_ should be asleep," Wilson scolded.

"We need a bedtime story," Serenity murmured.

"Make it a good one," Joey agreed.

Wilson sighed; how did he even get into these messes?

Yami was looking at him expectantly, and the kids were peeking at him through half-lidded eyes. "Fine," Wilson sighed, sensing they wouldn't get any rest otherwise. "One story, and then you go to sleep. All right?"

There were murmurs of assent.

"This is going to be good, I can tell," Yami noised, hunkering down when Wilson readied himself.

Oi, what to tell?

He finally settled on something he knew they'd never have heard of.

"Long ago and far away, there was a city of metal and glass…."


	28. Petrified

**Chapter 28, everybody, and a change of scenery!**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Perhaps the latter…it'll tie into the story later on. :) Yes, practice! It's good for you! :D And thanks! And yes, I do—I've spent most of this week decompressing…it's been good. Cool—I've heard that _Avatar_ was based on those sort of historical events….**

**And sorry if this comes off submitted on a Sunday****—****I forgot Daylight Savings Time started today. ^^;**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi stirred to wakefulness, feeling stiff and drowsy. It had taken him ages to fall asleep last night—he had been too keyed-up. He felt like he didn't get enough sleep though. Why—

He opened his eyes to a white-out.

"Woah," he noised, staring at…nothing. It was as Serenity said—it was a vast blank slate.

Yami had been trailing behind an irritated-looking Wilson, but stopped and looked at Yugi.

Yugi waved him off, squinting against the bright whiteness. As bright as it was, it had to be morning—no wonder he was woken up before he was ready. How could anyone sleep through _this?_

A muffled snore alerted him to the fact that Joey and Tristan were still sleeping. Yugi looked—

And couldn't help but laugh at how Serenity was sandwiched between the two, and Willow looked distinctly ruffled with Tristan's head on hers.

"Move so I can get up," she commanded Yugi.

Yugi did so, stretching to relieve the kinks from sleeping in a funny position. Oog.

"I'll have breakfast ready as soon as I get some time to myself," Wilson said, glancing back at Yami, who was watching what he was doing over his shoulder. "Then we have to get going."

Yugi sighed; he wasn't looking forward to sitting on the sled for another whole day.

"Yami, come here and let Wilson work," Yugi called.

Willow had stood up and stretched too. "Yeah! We've got a new game for you to play!"

_That_ got Yami over in a hurry. "What is it?"

A few minutes later, and Joey and Tristan were up and yelping from the snow stuck down their shirts.

* * *

As Yugi feared, there was more room on the sled now.

"How much longer did you say this was going to take?" Yugi asked, twisting around to see Wilson and fighting to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

"A couple more days, at least," Wilson said, hooked over the handrail and fiddling with something. He was squinting in the light. "We should be able to pick up some speed as we get closer to the bottom."

Yami picked up the pace. "Not right away," Wilson chided. "The good news is, we should be passing the treeline soon—we'll be able to find resources soon."

"Treeline?" Joey echoed.

"There's a certain altitude at which plants cease to grow," Wilson explained. "Frostmore is right on that line in the mountain valley. We had to go past it to get to the Pass—and Yami's…lair…and now we should be reaching the treeline again soon. It might take longer to reach it on this side, though—we _are_ exposed to wind and the elements more here."

"He's doing his science-speak again," Joey complained.

"Fine, don't educate yourself," Wilson said, miffed.

Yugi glanced around. Wilson was probably right (no surprise there); he hadn't seen anything different since starting out that morning, or from yesterday. Just white, white, white.

Yugi sighed and resigned himself to another boring, terrifying day.

* * *

The sky was beginning to darken again when they reached the treeline.

"Oooo," Willow noised.

They were straight, white trees with bare limbs, spooky in the way that they loomed out of the gloom.

"Deciduous trees?" Wilson noised. "That can't be right—we're too high up for that—_Joey!"_

Joey had managed to worm his way off of the sled and over to one of the trees to examine it.

"Woah, Yami!" Yugi said, following him.

"Hey, this is the tree for you," Joey said, turning to Yugi. "No branches to clear off at the bottom!"

"I could live with that," Yugi muttered, looking the tree up and down. It was pretty tall…but something felt…_off_ about it.

Joey dashed over to the sled. "Hey, Wilson! Where'd you pack the axe? We can knock one of these down and get a fire going!"

"Or we can keep going for a bit longer," Wilson pointed out. "Or I can just accept the fact that no one seems to be listening to me," he added, when Joey started digging in the packs.

"There's not a white-tree-Lief here, is there?" Yugi asked Yami.

Yami glanced around for a bit before answering. "I don't _think_ so," he said finally. "But I don't know—I've never been this way before."

Something about the way Wilson glanced at Yami made Yugi nervous. "Yami," Yugi said quietly, crossing over so he was right in front of Yami and could keep his voice low. "If you've never been this way before, then how do you know where we're going?"

"Because this is the way off the mountain," Yami replied.

"And how do you know?"

"I just know."

Yugi reflected that that didn't offer a lot of comfort.

Any further reflection was cut off by a loud _dong!_

Yugi—and everyone else, he noted—turned to see that Joey had used the axe on the nearest tree. And the axe had bounced right off, knocking Joey flat on his back.

"Are you all right, Joey?" Serenity asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Joey groused, sitting up. "What's _with_ this thing?"

"Maybe it didn't like the axe?" Yami guessed.

"Yami, don't be silly," Willow chided.

Wilson, meanwhile, had crossed over to the tree and was examining it. "No," Wilson said slowly. "He has a point, strangely enough—this tree is petrified."

"So…what?" Joey asked, getting to his feet. "We scared it?"

Wilson took advantage of Joey's upright stance to thump him on the head. "_No_, Mr. Wheeler—a tree becomes petrified through age or a natural disaster, not by some _ninny_ approaching it with an axe."

"Hold it," Tristan said, looking around. "_All_ these trees look like that. Are you telling me the whole forest is petrified?"

"Yes," Yami said, without hesitation.

"_Huh?"_ Yugi—and he was sure a few others—asked.

"And how do _you_ know?" Joey shot.

"I just know," Yami said blithely.

Yugi glanced past a steaming Joey to look at Wilson—the scientist was probably thrilled to have something new to research.

But Wilson didn't _look_ thrilled…he looked _concerned_.

"I don't recall this being here before," Yugi heard him mutter.

Yugi blinked, stopped dead by this information. But before he could say anything, Wilson had turned around, waving them back onto the sled and expressing a wish to make some headway before nightfall.


	29. The Spook Forest

**Chapter 29, everybody! In which everyone scares themselves….**

**"Scrooms" are owl-ghosts from Kathryn Lasky's _Guardians of Ga'Hoole_, by the by, which is a very good series to invest in. Screechers are from the _Don't Starve_ mod of the same name. _Never_ play that mod. *~***

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi felt a need to puzzle over what he had heard.

It was to this effect that he was trying to carry on a private conversation with Willow, mostly punctuated with glances and hand gestures. Regrettably, it needed words to supplement the conversation, and with the others around and no way to safely get some privacy, it wouldn't work. Willow gave him the look and movement that meant _tell me tomorrow_ and then let the matter die.

Yugi sighed. Trying to talk to Willow had also had the added benefit of getting him to focus on not being hungry, as Wilson had insisted on limiting their rations. After two days of seeing no other signs of life, Yugi could understand his reasoning. It didn't help his stomach, however.

Joey and Tristan—against Wilson's advice—had tried to check the forest for something edible. But with the _trees_ even being lifeless, they hadn't tarried. There was just something…something _spooky_ about the place.

"I don't like this place," Serenity said, shivering despite the fire (Yugi hoped they got off the mountain soon—they were quickly running out of supplies). "It's like it's haunted."

Wilson, who had been writing in his notebook, looked up with a scowl. Before he could answer, however, someone else had taken the liberty.

"It _is_ haunted," Yami said, sitting on the edge of the light and looking out into the darkness.

"Firstly, that offends me as a scientist to even have that _suggested_," Wilson said pointedly. "Secondly, don't share that sort of information—you'll scare Miss Wheeler."

Yami looked at Wilson funny, then glanced at Serenity and lowered his head; Yugi recognized Yami's movement as _oh, sorry._

Yugi glanced at Willow and indicated that Yami would probably be able to talk "their-speak" before long, since he was so easy to read. Willow's expression was comical in her disapproval—Yugi pictured Yami loudly translating everything they "said" and decided she had a point.

"What kind of haunted?" Joey asked, standing over his sister in an attempt to protect her, even though he had a very fidgety expression. Joey was afraid of ghosts, Yugi realized. A quick glance showed Willow had divined it too.

Yugi reflected that Joey would regret the next time he bothered Willow.

"Scrooms," Yami said, glancing quickly at Wilson. "Owl ghosts," he added, when he noticed their expressions. "I heard about this place from the snowy owls—there's a place full of straight white dead stone trees, and that's where restless scrooms go."

Wilson made one of those muted sighing noises and scribbled in his notebook. Yugi pictured him writing down what Yami said, then adding _absolutely ridiculous!_ to the margins.

Joey and Serenity were huddled together now. "Hey, ignore him," Tristan told them. "Besides, it's not ghosts you should be worried about—it's Screechers."

"That doesn't help, Tristan," Willow spat.

"What are Screechers?" Yami asked, head tilted.

"Owl monsters," Tristan explained. "They scream and they bite your face off and they're only active at night."

To be honest, Screechers were the meanest things the adults had ever come up with to scare the kids. Yugi had had nightmares for _weeks_ after hearing about them for the first time—after he had managed to fall asleep after a week of insomnia.

Wilson stood up before Tristan could say any more.

"That is _enough_," he hissed, firelight making his aggravated expression frightful. "Trying to scare each other in this environment—right now all you're doing is reminding me that I'm really stuck in charge of an expedition of _children_, which does _not_ help matters. Now all of you—get to sleep! And don't let me hear another word out of you until morning!"

With that, Wilson stalked over to the sled and threw some blankets at them. Yami hunkered down where he sat, occasionally shooting Wilson some concerned glances.

After they were hunkered down and bundled up, Willow poked Yugi. "_What?"_ Yugi hissed, worried Wilson would hear them.

"I've decided," Willow whispered primly. "That Wilson is the scariest thing in these woods."

Yugi couldn't help but agree—couple the expression he had when Tristan had mentioned Screechers with the comment he had made upon discovering the trees were petrified….

Yugi just couldn't shake the feeling that Wilson was keeping something important to himself.


	30. Tree-Hugger

**Chapter 30, everybody! I feel we have hit a landmark….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson woke them up at the first sign of daybreak to get them on their way immediately.

Joey and Tristan grumbled, and Serenity sleepily allowed herself to be loaded on the sled (which had more room than yesterday), but Yugi was grateful for the rescue from fitful dreams of screaming owl ghosts.

Yami, meanwhile, kept glancing at Yugi, as though he knew Yugi had had nightmares. Yugi waved him off, and they were shortly on their way after a very small breakfast.

"So what were you trying to tell me last night?" Willow murmured, leaning forward and resting her chin on Yugi's shoulder.

"I think Wilson's been acting odd," Yugi whispered back.

"Wilson always acts odd. That's one of the prerequisites for _being_ Wilson."

"Odder than normal."

"How so?"

Yugi hesitated. Willow didn't exactly _idolize_ Wilson, but he factored largely in her estimations. He'd have to tread carefully. "I…I think he's been…off the mountain before."

Willow was still and silent for a few agonizing moments. "What makes you say that?" she asked finally.

"He's been saying things…like how long it'd take us to get off the mountain, how those trees _weren't there before_, and when Tristan was joking about Screechers…."

Silence again. "Wilson wouldn't put us in danger," Willow pointed out.

"I know," Yugi murmured. "But…it's just something that keeps bugging me."

"Tell it to bug off."

"You're pretty trusting."

"Only of you and Wilson. Don't let that get around, by the way."

Despite his worry, that statement lightened his chest slightly. "Really?" he asked.

"Don't let it go to your head," Willow said primly.

"What are you two talking about?" Joey asked.

Yugi turned slightly to glance at Willow. Her expression told him all. "Nothing important," he said.

* * *

The angle of the ground was getting shallower and shallower, until finally they reached a pine forest and flat ground.

"Finally!" Joey said, stretching and glancing around. "If I never see that spooky forest again, it'll be too soon!"

"I told you it'd take a few days," Wilson muttered, checking his compass again. "Woah, Yami—we ought to make camp for the night."

Joey and Tristan hopped off the sled and ran for the nearest tree. "What are they doing?" Yugi wondered.

"You gotta go, you gotta go," Willow mused. Yugi could hear the smile without even glancing at her.

Joey, however, seemed to be feeling the tree. He surprised them by hugging it.

"You're a _great_ tree," he told it. "I'll never complain about pine sap again—not so long as you're nice and made of wood."

Yugi bit his lip; _made of wood_, yes—but _nice_….

"There aren't any of Lief's cousins down here, are there?" he asked Yami.

"I'm not sure," Yami said, tilting his head.

Yugi looked at Willow, shrugged, and got off the sled.

An _oouf_ prompted him to turn back.

Yami was trotting over to one of the trees, and had sent a surprised Wilson flat on his face. Willow and Serenity looked at Yugi; he shrugged in response.

They found out what Yami was doing when he sat down in front of a big pine.

"Hi! You don't know me, but I'm friends with Lief up on the mountain," he said.

Yugi and Willow _did_ exchange glances this time—was he talking to a _tree?_

"Well, maybe _friend_ is too strong a word," Yami continued, thinking. "But he tolerates my existence so, I think that's pretty close, don't you?"

"He talks to trees," Joey said blankly, from right next to Yugi.

"And you hug them," Yugi said, before he could stop himself.

Joey's scowl was worth it. Yugi and Willow shared a high-five, elated.


	31. Lief's Cousin

**Chapter 31, everybody! In which Yami runs a tree off….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Despite being still fairly close to the spook forest, the atmosphere was still much lighter than it had been last night. They had fresh wood to burn, they had managed to find some identifiable berries (which Wilson confirmed), and they were finally—_finally_—off the mountain.

Yugi just wished Yami would leave the tree alone.

He had been talking to it nonstop since they stopped, and had included in his conversing what he thought of everyone. In detail. Wilson, Joey and Tristan were still sulking.

"Yami, maybe you should leave the tree alone," Yugi said. "We have soup," he tried, hoping to distract him before he said something else unwittingly insulting.

"Oooh, I have to tell you about soup," Yami continued, still addressing the tree.

"Maybe this is his way of telling everyone what he thinks of them _without_ telling them," Willow suggested.

"Yami's not that roundabout," Yugi pointed out.

"He'd better knock it off soon," Joey groused. "Or we'll be finding out just how attached those antlers are!"

"They could probably come off," Wilson said, scribbling in his notebook once again. "If they don't, then they're just horns."

Yugi bunched up as a brief breeze blew through.

When it was done, the rustling hadn't stopped.

Yugi turned back to where Yami was still talking.

"Oh wow," he muttered.

The others turned to look. Serenity and Willow shrieked, and the others yelped in alarm.

The tree was standing, much like Lief had, and was leaving with as much haste as a tree could manage.

"Hey, wait!" Yami said, standing up. "I haven't told you about biscuits-and-bacon yet!"

"Yami, _woah!_" Yugi managed, before Yami could bound off with the sled. Yami hesitated, then sat down, looking a little dejected.

"Wow," Willow said, when she had finally recovered. "He really _did_ talk a tree to death."

Yugi digested that for a moment. "No he didn't," he said suddenly. "If he did, then the tree would have fallen over."

Willow gave him another high-five. "That's two," Tristan said, nudging Joey.

"Shaddap," Joey muttered, teeth chattering.

* * *

Yugi couldn't shake the feeling they were back in Frostmore.

A lot of the same plants grew here as up on the mountain, and there was snow everywhere.

But after an hour or so, Yugi was beginning to be able to tell the difference. The snow wasn't as thick here—in places, it was only a soft dusting. The foliage wasn't as hardy as up on the mountain.

But that gray snow fog still hung in the air.

"Are you sure that's fog?" Tristan asked. He was leaning back against the remainder of the supplies.

"What we were in before was _clouds_, Mr. Taylor," Wilson said testily. "_Now_ we're looking at fog."

"Can't we get out of this?" Joey groused.

"It'll still take a while," Wilson replied. "The cold air from the mountain is meeting the warm air from the desert—we'll be seeing this until it gets hot enough to burn it off."

Yugi pictured the fog on fire and decided he didn't like it. Willow would, though. But again, it brought up that quiet, niggling doubt.

"How do _you_ know?" Joey shot.

"I'm a _scientist_, Mr. Wheeler," Wilson said, with an air of exasperation. "It's my _business_ to know these things."

"I think he's been making things up as he goes along," Joey hissed to Tristan.

"Explain to me the point of trying to explain things to you imbeciles if you insist on living in ignorance!" Wilson groused. Yugi could picture him throwing his hands up in the air, even without turning around to check.

"I don't think we're all going to make it to the Sunlit Kingdom if this keeps up," Willow muttered.

Yugi opened his mouth to answer, before what she said hit him. They were no longer trying to get off the mountain—they had done it. Now…now they were heading for the Sunlit Kingdom, the nebulous dream world that his grandfather had talked about.

_Please please please let it be real,_ Yugi pleaded.

"Yami? Why are you stopping?"

Yugi blinked at Willow's question, then realized that yes, Yami had stopped. Yugi stood up to see over his antlered head—

_"Woah,"_ Yugi noised.

"I stopped," Yami pointed out.

Yugi ignored him. It was…it was….

"What _is_ that?" Yugi asked, hoping Wilson would do what he always did and provide an answer.

"_That_ is a swamp," Wilson declared. "The good news is: we're on the right track. The bad news is: that's very dangerous and very slow going up ahead."

Yugi stared out at the purplish ground, from which sickly trees and gray grass sprouted from occasionally. Color faded as the distance increased, until everything was eaten by the fog.

"Do we _have_ to go that way?" Joey asked.

"I don't know how big the swamp is, so yes," Wilson noised. "Going around would be too much of a detour, methinks."

Yugi sat down as Yami gingerly went forward. Soon, they'd reach the part of the ground that went from sturdy to spongy and downright _yuck—_

Yami put his clawed limbs down—

And the swamp he stood on froze.

Yugi was fairly certain he wasn't the only one staring as Yami made a satisfied noise and trotted along, freezing the swampy ground with every step.

"All right, then," Wilson noised. "So this won't take as much time as I initially supposed."


	32. The Skeleton in the Swamp

**Chapter 32, everybody! In which Wilson quotes Shakespeare in the Swamp….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! No worries—hopefully you stayed warm on your camping trip. :D And yes, that seems to be the big question….We shall soon find out…..**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

They had waited until practically the last minute before Wilson said it was time to stop and camp.

"Why did you wait so long to stop?" Yugi asked him as Wilson carefully made a fire on the swampy, spongy ground. "You weren't in such a hurry before."

"Because it smells," Willow declared, before Wilson could answer.

"That was me, sorry," Tristan said.

"Tristan! Eww!" Serenity said.

"Dude," Joey agreed.

"I saw an opportunity, and I seized it," Tristan said defensively.

Yami looked at Yugi with a confused look on his face; Yugi just grimaced and shook his head.

"Joke all you want—the swamp is a dangerous place," Wilson said, finishing the fire and standing up. "This is an entirely different ecosystem than the one you're used to."

Considering that Wilson later had to educate them on minute creatures called _bugs_, Yugi was inclined to agree with him.

* * *

The next day, Yami took a winding course across the swamp. Every time Yugi questioned him on his zigzagging method as opposed to a straight line, Yami would simply reply "It's not safe that way."

Wilson couldn't help but find that fascinating. He wondered if Yami didn't have an innate sense that alerted him to potential pitfalls such as quicksand and…other things….

Wilson grimaced at the memory, thankful that everyone was facing forward for the most part. No need for them to see his expression and then ask questions he couldn't answer without scaring them. He did _not_ need nor want a repeat of the Screecher incident—he had been jumping at every sound after Tristan had referenced them that night.

But, he reflected as they rode on, he'd have to say something sooner or later….

* * *

"_Woah,_ Yami."

Yami stopped obligingly, enabling the rest of the sled to see what Willow had spotted.

A skeleton half-buried in the muck.

"'Alas, poor Yorick,'" Wilson quoted after a moment of silence. "'I knew him, Horatio—a man of infinite jest—'"

"I wonder who he was," Serenity muttered.

"He told you," Tristan said, thumbing back at Wilson. "Some guy named Yorick. Can we go, please?"

They did so.

"I think I knew a guy named Yorick once," Joey said after a while. "Funny guy. I wonder what happened to him."

"He died," Wilson said bluntly. "We passed all that remains of him about half-an-hour ago."

There was silence at that.

"Way to kill the mood, Wilson," Willow said finally.

"If you people don't start listening to me, that won't be the only dead thing around here," Wilson said flatly.

Yugi swallowed, looking around at the foggy swamp.

He was sorely inclined to believe Wilson at this point.


	33. Something's Wrong

**Chapter 33, everybody! In which we finally address the Frost King in the room….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Yes, listen to Wilson…especially when he asks you if you hear something. And we'll be finding out the answer to that question in this chapter, actually….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

By their third day in the swamp, Yugi was beginning to notice a change in Yami.

It wasn't a good one.

The spread of his ice was getting steadily narrower, his breathing more labored…even his fluff was starting to droop.

Wilson had noticed, and had made Joey and Tristan follow his example and walk behind the sled. Yugi and Willow had taken to walking next to Yami, keeping a careful eye on him. Serenity had been forced to stay on the sled once it was evident walking strained her just as much as it was Yami.

"Are you okay?" Yugi asked, for the umpteenth time that day.

"Fine," Yami breathed, focusing on one foot in front of the other.

Yugi glanced at Willow and gave her a meaningful stare.

It didn't take them long to formulate a theory—Yami was getting too far from the mountain. He couldn't handle the warmer temperature of the swamp. And the swamp was indeed warm, as it had forced the group to shed their coats and scarves—and Yami was too out of it to notice.

Yugi pointed out his worry to Willow: Yami was dying.

And how were they supposed to get him to turn around and leave, pray tell? Willow asked.

Good question. Yugi pondered this for a moment. Well, there was the direct approach….

"Yami," Yugi said slowly. "You know, you've gotten us a long way….We could probably make the rest of the trip ourselves…."

Yami gave no indication that that registered.

Yugi gave Willow a panicked look.

"Yami," Willow said.

"Yeah?" Yami asked.

"Did you hear Yugi?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe you should go home?"

"No."

"Yami, you got us past the hard part," Yugi said softly, not wishing for their conversation to carry back. "We can make the rest of the way ourselves—Wilson's compass is working, and…."

Yami just gritted his teeth and continued on.

Yugi gave Willow another look. She returned with one that he had been hoping not to see.

_We have to talk to Wilson_.

* * *

Wilson had stopped them early that evening. The increasing effort on Yami's part was evident, and when the Frost King had received the order to stop, he did so and flopped down in the traces, not moving at all except for his ragged breathing.

Wilson had wanted to perform an examination as soon as camp was set up, but Willow and Yugi had dragged him away from camp before he could even start. He quickly delegated setting camp to Joey and Tristan, while Serenity kneeled by Yami's head, talking softly.

"What?" Wilson asked, when they had finally stopped.

"We think Yami's dying," Willow said, always the more direct of the two.

Oh goody—so he wasn't the only one to notice. Wilson scratched at the back of his head, searching for a statement that would cease these two's worries quickly before panic seized them all.

"Some…creatures," he said finally. "Are specially adapted to certain biomes. It could be that taking him out of a cold environ and placing him in a warmer one is having…adverse effects on him."

"So he's dying?" Yugi asked, wide-eyed. Oh boy—talk faster, Mr. Higgsbury.

"He's not used to the weather," Wilson stated carefully. "And coupling with the strain of pulling the sled—"

"It wasn't a strain before," Willow pointed out.

"Over the course of several days, it can be. Now, I refuse to answer any more questions until I have a chance to examine him. It could be that a day of rest and something proper to eat is all he needs. Do I make myself clear? No panicking until I authorize it."

They subsided, and Wilson could only hope it would hold.

Because he didn't like the idea of Yami dying any more than the rest of them.


	34. Fading

**Chapter 34, everyone! In which Wilson worries slightly….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Willow is of the same opinion, so she won't let him ("If you die I'll kill you" sort of attitude). Hmm, an Elsa-ex-machina would be useful at this point—we will have to see about that….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi decided that the day off from traveling wasn't going to be a good one.

They were allowed to forage carefully, using a stick to check each spot for hidden quicksand that could potentially suck them down and spit them out on the other end of the earth—if it was of a mind to, of course. Wilson was back at camp with Serenity, checking Yami over. The fact that the Frost King's sphere of cold had retracted enough to allow them to examine him was a bad sign in Yugi's book. And that flame that always erupted from the carved eye on his forehead was down to a sputter. Again, not a good sign.

"You're sighing again—quit it," Willow chided.

"I'm worried," Yugi returned.

"So am I, but it's doing us no good right now," she stated. "Now come on and keep your head in the game—I don't want to have to pull you out of the muck here."

"Gee, thanks," Yugi muttered. "Maybe if _you_ fall in, I'll leave you."

"Wilson would throw you in after me," Willow said with certainty.

Yugi was quiet at that. "You're still wondering about him, aren't you?" Willow asked.

"It's just—I don't know," Yugi muttered. "It's like this…like half-a-memory, that I just can't put my finger on, no matter how hard I try."

"Maybe you were dreaming."

"Maybe…."

Willow sighed and turned to him, making him look her in the eye.

"He's going to be all right," she said firmly. "Something that earns the name 'The Frost King' isn't about to just keel over and die."

Yugi swallowed hard. She had just addressed a big part of what was bothering him.

"Now come on," she said, tugging his arm and poking a fresh spot with a stick. "I want to see about getting over to that tree over there."

* * *

Wilson was not looking forward to the others' return.

He fully expected it to be very similar to the conversation he was having with Miss Serenity right now: yes, he'll be fine, he's just tired, that's all, now would you _please_ go do something else and leave me to my notes?

To be perfectly honest, he had absolutely no clue as to what was ailing the Frost King.

His previous experiences with anatomy were all with warm-blooded or cold-blooded creatures, of which the Frost King was neither. He didn't have a base temperature to go on, so he couldn't tell if the Frost King was running a fever. His best guess was exertion—the Frost King had not moved from where he dropped last night. If it weren't for his breathing, Wilson would have put good money on him dying.

Which brought him back to the original problem, and why he had been studiously avoiding referring to the Frost King by name—he did not want Yami to die.

_Not again._

It was silly to have allowed himself to become attached to a monster—specifically one that delighted in jumping on him and sending him into an arctic face-plant. It was intelligent, but so was a dog—someone else would just shoot it and put it out of its misery.

So why not him? Granted, he _would_ have to deal with the children….

No, no….

He was aware that Yami was finally awake, and looking at him with a tired expression.

"_You_ ought to go home," Wilson informed him in his best serious-scientist voice.

Yami didn't respond. "You _do_ realize," Wilson continued. "That as a creature best suited to cold climes, that being in warmer weather is injurious to your health?"

Yami blinked. "The warm weather is killing you," Wilson clarified. "Do you honestly have a suicidal bent to you?"

Yami continued to watch him, prompting Wilson to let out an irritated sigh and fling his notes down. Yami shifted a bit, moving towards the notes—it occurred to Wilson that the Frost King didn't want to see something obviously important to Wilson getting soiled.

Wilson sighed and picked up the notes. "Go home, Yami," he commanded, standing up.

Yami watched him as he straightened up and turned.

"But if I do, I'll never see you again."

Wilson paused, turned sharply at the quiet statement the Frost King had made. He looked honest enough…."And yet if you die, the point will be rendered moot."

Yami settled his head back down with a soft sigh.

Wilson had the feeling he had lost that argument.


	35. The Cabin in the Fog

**Chapter 35, everybody! In which a new character enters the fray….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! It was worth a shot—but yes, Yami _is_ much too stubborn for that to have worked….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson and Yugi were now walking ahead of the rest of the group, who were all keeping pace with Yami.

"How is he?" Yugi asked, once they were out of earshot.

Ah, why, why, _why_ must those two always ask the difficult questions? If it wasn't Willow, it was Yugi, sure as sure. "Stubborn and annoying," Wilson declared finally. "About usual."

"He's not dying, is he?"

Ugh. How to address this?... "We're all dying, technically," Wilson decided. "From the time we're born, that's the only thing guaranteed to us. It…would behoove you to reconcile yourself to that, young Mr. Moutou."

Yugi nodded slightly, looking distinctly down. "So he _is_ dying," he said. "Willow said you'd try to evade the question if he was."

"When did she say this?"

"This morning."

Wilson threw up his hands. "One of these days, one of you will have to decode how it is you talk without speaking."

"Is there anything we can do?"

About Yami, obviously. "He listens to _you_," Wilson pointed out.

"He doesn't want to go back, though."

"Then no, I think not. He'll follow us until he dies in the traces, unless we turn around and head back for the mountain."

Seeing Yugi's expression, Wilson wished he could rescind the former statement and substitute it with a lie. But what could he do—

He glanced about sharply as the ground suddenly shifted from wet and spongy to firm. The fog was finally clearing, and up ahead….

"Is that a house?" Yugi asked.

"It is," Wilson confirmed. "Come—there might be supplies."

He jogged ahead until he was close, then slowed to a stop to allow Yugi to catch up. A farm, a springhouse, a stack of wood, a shed….The house was a squat log home, simple in design….

"Is it abandoned?" Yugi asked.

Good question. It certainly _looked_ abandoned…but _too_ abandoned, which conflicted with the nicely tended garden and well-repaired springhouse and shed. It was a farce.

"I'm fairly certain someone's here," Wilson began slowly.

The door to the house swung open.

"You got that right," a sharp voice said.

Wilson froze, half-blocking Yugi from the potential danger.

Although, he wasn't entirely sure how effective he'd be at blocking a shotgun blast.


	36. Armed and Dangerous

**Chapter 36, everybody! In which Wilson does some fast-talking….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! We're going to get an answer to that question in this chapter, actually….And I don't know….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"Who are you, and what do you want?"

A young woman—not that Wilson was foolish enough to believe that made her any less dangerous. Women, in his experience, were more motivated to be lethal, considering they weren't as physically strong as men. He was certain that even with his wiry frame, he could wrest that gun from her if he got close enough.

He was smart enough to know that it was because of that fact that the girl would _not_ let him get anywhere near her.

"We're…travelers," Wilson tried carefully, knowing the best fabrications had truth in them. "We've just crossed the Great Swamp, and we're heading for the Sunlit Kingdom to trade."

Yugi tugged insistently at his shirt sleeve. Wilson ignored him; he had to at least distract this girl from Yugi, maybe even get her away before Yami showed up—because the Frost King would inexorably appear through that fog, and if she saw _that_….

She lowered the gun enough to give him a look that he recognized: _Seriously? How dumb do you think I am?_ Ah…a Pale Skin. No wonder she was of the cynical bent.

Wilson allowed himself a moment to marvel at the fact that he was barely off the mountain and back to thinking in those terms. Ah, politics.

Whoever she was, she couldn't have been older than he; she had long brown hair, round glasses, a purple fedora—wow, it had been ages since he had seen that cut of hat. He didn't think complimenting it would get them out of trouble, though.

"I see you don't believe me," Wilson began.

"Go with that feeling," she snapped.

"Might I suggest a less acerbic approach?" he countered—he missed this, he realized: the opportunity to sharpen his wit on someone he didn't know. "I should hope it's evident we're not armed—and we're certainly not fighting fit after walking through _that_."

The gun was lower now, but Wilson was certain she could shoot from the hip—not out of the woods yet. "So what's a couple of Pale Skins such as yourself doing coming from _that_ direction? And heading in _that_ direction besides."

Yugi was still tugging at his sleeve, prompting Wilson to spare half-a-glance in the direction they had come.

Too much. "There's someone else with you, isn't there?" she asked, readying the gun again.

"Yes," Wilson admitted. "But I'm certain you have the same advantage—I can't imagine a woman living out here by herself."

She bit down on her tongue to stop the comeback—ah, so she _was_ by herself! But why?

"We don't harbor any ill will towards you—" he tried again.

"The feeling isn't mutual."

"But I must say that we _are_ travelling with…something…that to the average person may be startling—"

"Vague much?"

"It's a Frost King," Yugi piped up.

"Ah, it speaks," the woman noised, glancing at Yugi. Wilson positioned himself so he'd be between the two.

"Might we consider a discourse that doesn't involve a weapon in your hand?" Wilson posed.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Look, _bucko_, the Tan Skins down south might be lax about it, but around here, trespassing's a serious crime—"

"Hey!" Joey said, projecting. "Who are you guys talking to?"

Instantly the gun was pointed at Joey. "Ho geez," Joey squawked.

Wilson carefully began edging towards her. "This is Mr. Joseph Wheeler, he's travelling with us…." Last name—note that he has a last name….

"For the record, this gun makes a good a club as it does a projectile weapon," she said, glancing at him.

Jingling. Out of time. "Yugi, lie down," Wilson commanded quietly.

"What?" Yugi squeaked. "Why?"

"You'll make yourself a smaller target—_now lie down."_

He had to hope that he did so—because the woman was glancing up and behind Joey—

Where an antlered form was beginning to emerge from the fog.

Wilson bolted forward as she swung the gun up to aim at Yami, managed to shove the barrel away as she squeezed the trigger—

It was to Wilson's concern that she had a similar level of strength to him as he tried to wrestle the gun from her. The portion of his mind that always remained detached and clinical reminded him of the cords of wood lined neatly against the shed—it had to come from somewhere….

A pain in his shin prompted that clinical brain cell to note that she fought dirty—typical Pale Skin. No, Joey, trying to assist is a bad idea—Wilson shoved forward so the business end of the gun was pointing at the house. She followed the motion, cracked the butt of the gun against his skull—ow—sending him to his knees, but can't afford to let go—

"Hey!"

The stars cleared enough for Wilson to see that Joey had managed to come up behind her and pin her arms to her sides, giving Wilson enough leverage to wrest the gun away.

That did not mean she was down for the count—she shoved up, knocking Joey off-balance, and kicked Wilson in the gut, sending him spiraling down the steps. Oof. He rolled over, hoping to play keepaway long enough for him to get his breath back—

It had been a while before he had heard such colorful language, but her main question was clear: _"What is that thing?!"_

Wilson looked up to see Yami take one more step—

Then once again collapse in the traces.

Yugi and Willow were immediately at his side, giving Wilson enough time to catch his breath and turn to the young woman.

"_That_," he gasped. "Is what is known in the mountains as the Frost King. How cold is your springhouse?"

She blinked at him. "_What? Why do you want to know?"_

"You're an educated lady—he can't be allowed to get too warm. Now, if you want any more questions answered, then I suggest you start playing hostess instead of Annie Oakley."

If anger manifested in flame, Wilson would be looking at an inferno. He'd have to keep an eye on her—he had the feeling he wasn't holding her only weapon.

"Fine," she spat finally.


	37. The Frost King in the Springhouse

**Chapter 37, everybody! Hey, this is pretty early in the day for me! Success….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Heheh, kind of—Rae (scary-gun-lady), like Kelsey, is patterned off of myself (albeit more caustic). I tend to use them when I need another character to round out a story—don't worry, this is a no-Mary-Sue zone. And no, I didn't know that—*throws a belated pillow* I wonder why?...**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Scary-gun-lady's name was Rae Dunway.

It was a piece of information she gave grudgingly, Yugi noted later. At the time, however, he had more pressing matters to focus on.

Wilson had quietly told him to keep his hat on while around "Miss Dunway"—Yugi wondered at that.

But Yami….

They had managed to get him out of the harness, down the steps into the springhouse—he was surprisingly light. Still cold, but not bitterly so….

Not good. Not good at all.

"Is he going to be all right?" Serenity asked quietly.

Yugi looked to Wilson, who was keeping one eye on them, one eye on Rae.

"He'll be fine," Wilson said, sounding distracted. "He just needs some rest."

Rae finally looked away from Yami to glare incredulously at Wilson. "_Wow_," she noised, sarcasm in every letter—she put Wilson and Willow's sarcasm to shame. Was there some sort of school or something where people learned snark? "You're rubbish at this, I hope you know."

"I would appreciate it if you did not undermine me on this," Wilson hissed back.

"Oi vey," Rae noised, turning and walking back up the stairs.

Willow looked at Wilson. "'Oi vey'?" she repeated.

"It's a saying," Wilson said, waving them off and following her up the stairs.

"I think they like each other," Willow declared, once he left.

"I could tell by the way they wanted to kill each other," Yugi said.

"You shouldn't be sarcastic—you're not good at it."

"I need more practice."

"He wasn't lying though, was he?" Serenity asked, bringing them crashing back down to reality. "Yami's not dying, is he?"

"No," Willow said flatly. "He's the Frost King—he _can't_ die."

Yugi personally didn't think that was a prerequisite for dying or not, but he let it lie.

After all, _he_ didn't want Yami to die either.

* * *

"And where do you think _you're_ going?"

Rae turned to the advancing, irate-looking scientist. "Please—I know absolutely _nothing_ about that thing, but I'm smart enough to recognize a dying beast when I see one."

"Really," Wilson noised, crossing his arms. "Well, as you point out, _you_ know _nothing_ about said beast; therefore, I request that you keep your opinions on the matter to yourself."

Rae tossed her head, obviously aggravated. "Hey!" she yelled suddenly, spotting Joey and Tristan in her garden. "Get out of there!"

She paused in her beeline long enough to glare at Wilson.

"This isn't over," she pointed out. "You still owe me an explanation."

"And I'll give you one soon enough," Wilson returned.

She made a dismissive noise, sensing the conversation was over, and returned to ousting the boys from her garden.

Wilson sighed and glanced up at the sky.

How was he going to explain this?


	38. Explaining To Rae

**Chapter 38, everybody! In which some grilling occurs….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! No, this Rae is different from _Chaos City Island_ Rae (although thank you for checking that out!), and no, she isn't a Chaos Creature. I actually was wondering why this one was harder to review than _CAD_, but that's an interesting tidbit (any excuse to pummel siblings is a good excuse :D). I do celebrate Easter, but considering it's a floating holiday, seeking something else to wish someone is a safe activity (I think last year Easter fell the week after St. Patrick's Day—we were scrambling to change the decorations in my Mom's shop that year *~*).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"Okay. You. Talk. _Now."_

Yugi and Willow both looked to Wilson—whom, Yugi felt, was not being very helpful at the moment.

They were in scary-gun-lady's house, in a room that seemed to function as both living room and kitchen. It was big and open and rustic with a little bit of flair—someone had carved sworls into all the surfaces perpendicular to the floor. Willow and Yugi—still with his hat on, even though it was beginning to get itchy in the heat—sat at the table across from the glaring Rae.

Wilson, meanwhile, was very steadily pacing the room, taking measured steps and looking all over. _Nosy_ did not even begin to describe his actions, Yugi felt. He was tempted to tell Wilson he'd sprout antlers if he wasn't careful, but felt that that statement wouldn't go over well.

When it became evident that Wilson wasn't going to answer Rae, Yugi cleared his throat.

"Well, it's like this," he started, then paused, feeling like that wasn't enough.

So he carefully explained that they were from Frostmore, that Joey's sister Serenity had come down with pneumonia—

"Viral or bacterial?" Rae asked suddenly.

"Bacterial," Wilson answered from across the room—he was looking at the log walls now. "She needed hot dry air to recover properly."

"Or a big dose of penicillin."

Yugi looked at Willow to see that she was just as befuddled. _Big dose of what?_

"I should hope that you realize that wasn't exactly an option," Wilson said, still with that infuriating calmness.

"Is she contagious?" Rae asked.

"It was from complications of living in Frostmore, so I highly doubt it."

Rae shook her head, then indicated that Yugi could continue. He did so, describing the Frost King.

But as he did so, he couldn't help but hold back a little. Wilson didn't entirely trust her—why?

But then again, right now Yugi didn't entirely trust Wilson—and he didn't know why _that_ was either.

But even so, he heeded Wilson's advice and avoided referring to Yami by name. When he finished, Rae glanced between him and Willow and Wilson—the latter of which was now walking slowly across the floor.

"So you use this 'Frost King' to get off the mountain," Rae summarized. "What was the plan once you were in the Sunlit Kingdom? Sell it?"

Yugi couldn't help but be aghast at the news. "_No!"_ he exclaimed.

"Yami's our friend!" Willow snapped, before common sense could edit her statement.

Rae's expression was indescribable. "_Yami!?"_

But at that same moment, Wilson jumped up and down on the floor, eliciting a loud squeak from the boards.

Rae was on her feet at once. _"Out! OUT! Everybody out!"_


	39. In Strictest Confidence

**Chapter 39, everybody! In which Wilson makes Rae swear and discusses some of the back-story of their world….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! We shall see….And yup—that reminds me, I ought to post more in the CCI folder….It must be a thing that happens. Weird. I'm not entirely sure—I know that Easter occurs around Passover, because Jesus came to Jerusalem to observe it and go to His crucifixion, but I'm not sure how they determine when Passover is. I'd have to look it up….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi and Willow bolted, but Wilson was stayed by Rae pointing at him.

"_You,_" she hissed. "You stay right there."

Goody—his plan was a success.

"Well then," Wilson said, clasping his hands together as the door swung shut. "I take it that there must be a secret compartment beneath me. What's in it, that elicits such a reaction?"

"None of your business," Rae hissed. "You explain to me why you have a _thing_ named _Yami_ in my springhouse."

"None of your business," Wilson responded primly, enjoying the ability to throw her words back at her. "I can't help but wonder though—why is it that there's a young woman living out in the middle of nowhere by herself?"

"Listen, _bucko_, you're in _my_ house. You answer _my_ questions."

"How very possessive of you."

She snarled in anger and paced away, going to the window and glaring out of it.

"Interesting carvings," Wilson stated, indicating the walls. "Did you do them yourself?"

"What makes you think _I_ did it?"

"Your hands twitch," Wilson said, pointing. "I know an artist, and _his_ hands twitch when he's not doing anything with them. Furthermore, the style is more indicative of a Pale Skin than a Tan Skin. _Furthermore_—" And here he watched her reaction carefully. "Very few art styles survived till the Great Migration—the ones not authorized by the Administration were the ones salvaged by the Bradbury-Orwells."

She leaned against the windowsill, still glaring, not truly seeing anything. "You're much too young to have been a Bradbury-Orwell—I would have to guess it was your parents, correct?" Wilson asked. "The hidden compartment I'm standing over—that's where they hid what they salvaged. That's why _you're_ here, and threatening to shoot anything that moves."

She finally looked at him. "If you're so smart, then what do you think you're doing?" she spat.

"If I were to tell you, it would only be if it were to remain in strictest confidence."

She held up a finger. "Hold on, then."

She crossed over to the kitchen, opened up a cabinet, pulled out a lid and a wooden spoon, crossed over to the door, and banged a cacophonous tempo on the lid.

That done, she opened the door, revealing Yugi and Willow rolling around on the porch, clutching their ears.

"This is a _private_ conversation!" she snarled. "_Beat it!"_

And she slammed the door.

"All right then," she said, putting her back to the door and looking at him. "What's the big secret?"

Wilson figured he might as well hold her to her order's oath. "Bradbury-Orwell, who preserves our culture: what I'm about to tell you is in strictest confidence and must never leave this room."

She tilted her head, thinking. If she were to agree….

"If we're going to play it like _that_, then I'd better get my Bible," she said finally.


	40. A Hair-Pulling Event

**Chapter 40, everyone! A landmark event! And for the occasion, Yugi plants a pinecone and combs his hair****….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! You've predicted my next step again…am I really that predictable? D: Aha, sorry about that—For PKMNation, all Pokémon need references, and I regrettably let mine pile up. ^^; Yes, continue to practice! Practice brings happiness! :D No, I haven't spontaneously moved—the weather finally broke, so we have heat again. Huh…I wonder who determined that. I wonder _why_ they determined that (sounds complicated)….And yay! Good things! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

It was getting on to sundown.

"I wonder what they're talking about," Willow said, staring at the sky.

Yugi shrugged, too taken up with the colors the sky was turning. He had never seen the sky that color—it was always slate gray or maybe patchy blue, or multicolored by the Aurora Borealis—never these warm colors. He wondered if he'd ever see Frostmore again—although to be honest, he wouldn't really miss the snowstorms or the wolves or the evil trees—

"Ah," he noised suddenly, hopping up and dashing over to the sled.

"What?" Willow asked, following.

Yugi found his coat and fished in the pocket. "I promised Lief—big evil tree-thing that walks—that I'd plant this if I ever got off the mountain."

With that, he held up the pine cone Lief had given him.

"How will he know you planted it?"

"I don't know, but I want to before I forget again."

They walked around, seeking a suitable location. "Why did she react when we said Yami's name?" Willow asked.

"I don't know," Yugi admitted.

"It's not like 'Yami' is a common name—I wonder if she's heard it before."

"I don't know."

"You're no help."

"I know." He stopped at a spot that was near the marsh, but still on relatively solid ground, a good distance away from Rae's buildings. "This looks like a good spot, don't you think?"

"I don't know."

"Now you're just being difficult."

"I'm glad you figured that out."

Yugi dug slightly before planting the pinecone and covering it. "Okay, that's done—I planted Lief's kid."

"That's a funny way of saying it."

Yugi made a face as he stood up. "Well, how would you put it? I mean, there's got to be a different term for sentient trees."

Willow gave it some thought. "We should name it."

"What?"

"We should name Lief's kid. How about Erikson?"

"That could work, I guess…."

They walked back to the porch, locked in thought.

"What do you think?" Willow asked finally.

"About?"

"Rae."

"She scares me."

"She doesn't bother me."

"Oh yeah? Well she wasn't pointing a gun at you."

"True."

They reached the porch.

"I wonder if they're done yet," Willow mused.

The door finally opened and Wilson stepped out.

"Miss Rae has invited us to dinner," he informed them.

"Is she going to kill us?" Willow asked.

"Most likely not."

Yugi reflected that that didn't inspire a lot of confidence.

"You can take that off now, by the way," Wilson said as he walked off to find the others, indicating Yugi's hat.

Yugi did so. "_Aaagh,_" he noised, scratching at his head. "That was killing me."

"I thought you liked that hat," Willow said.

"I do, but not in this weather!"

The turned at the sound of the door opening to see Rae stick her head out. She made an odd noise and ducked back in.

When she came back out, she threw something at them.

"Here," she said. "Comb that rat's-nest out."

And she went back in her house and shut the door.

Willow held up the comb, then looked at Yugi. "Come on," she said, indicating the steps.

* * *

Yugi sat a couple of steps beneath Willow, hands clasping his scalp tightly.

"Ow," he noised, his favorite for the past hour.

"I'm _sorry_," Willow said, tugging at another tangle. "When was the last time you combed your hair?"

"I don't know—when was the last time I took my hat off?"

"That _is_ bad." She sniffed. "Speaking of, I think you need a bath."

"You don't smell much better."

"At least I _plan_ on _taking_ a bath."

She deposited another knot of hair on the pile that had been steadily growing. "I'm going to be bald by the time you're done," he complained.

"No you won't—you've got plenty of hair here."

Yugi bit his lip—preferable to moaning in pain again.

"Almost…done!" Willow declared, running the comb through his hair one more time to check for knots. She fluffed it a bit as Yugi massaged his aching scalp.

"You made my head ache," he moaned.

"You'll live," Willow said, pulling her hair out of her pigtails and combing it out. "Ow."

"Ha! See? It's not fun, is it?"

"No it isn't—and no, you're not touching my hair," she said, looking at him.

She paused, her expression odd. "What?" Yugi asked.

"I never noticed with your hat on, but your hair kind of looks like Yami's."

Yugi rolled his eyes back, but of course he couldn't see. "How so?"

"It's all spiky, and the tips are lighter. Your hair isn't blue, though."

"What color is it?"

"Dark like mine, but the tips are pink."

"I do _not_ have pink hair!"

"Magenta, then," Willow said, finishing up and putting her hair back into her customary pigtails.

"Hey, how come it didn't take you as long?" Yugi asked.

"I'm a girl—girls take care of their hair."

"I don't see how the two are related."

"They are."

Yugi sighed. "You're still worried, aren't you?" Willow asked.

Yugi nodded. "I knew it—stop that," Willow chided.

"_Someone's_ got to," he pointed out.

"Wilson is, remember?"

That conversation seemed to be a lifetime ago.

"Oh good—you don't look like something the cat dragged in anymore," Rae noised, prompting them to turn. "Take that to the garden and sprinkle it around," she commanded, indicating the pile of hair. "And then get in here—dinner's ready."


	41. Vegetable Soup

**Chapter 41, everybody! In which soup happens….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! You ought to—you're getting very good at it. *~* Ah….Well, you won't get an argument out of me there—the games _have_ gotten quite repetitive, and ORAS…was a _massive_ disappointment (and this with me being a fan of the original RSE). I figure that must get irritating seeing that crop up, but those are good times to hunt for web-comics. :D Ooh, painting's fun—except for oils. I never had any luck with oil painting. :|**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Dinner that night had been…epic. There was no other way to describe it.

Vegetable soup, utilizing every sort of veggie that Rae grew in her garden plus a few morsels of meat, made savory by seasoning; homemade bread with butter; milk for a beverage; and fruit for dessert. It was wonderful.

Serenity was made to drink a clear yellow soup with celery and onions floating in it and hot tea, but she seemed better for it.

After dinner, despite his drowsiness, Yugi took a bowl of the soup down to Yami.

"Yami, look!" Yugi said, putting the soup down in front of him. "Soup! You've never tasted soup this good!"

Yami stirred slightly, listless despite the relative coolness of the springhouse.

"Come on, Yami, you've got to eat something," Yugi begged.

"What are you doing?"

Yugi turned to see Rae bringing the pot of soup down. "I can't even get him to eat a bowl," Yugi said. "He won't eat all that."

Rae looked at the pot and then back at him. "I store my leftovers here, genius," she scolded, setting the pot on a nearby table.

That done, she crossed over and gave Yami a light kick.

"Listen you," she commanded. "Do you know what we do around here with livestock that refuse to eat?"

Yugi was horrified. "You can't _shoot_ him!"

"Well, yes, there's that," Rae conceded. Then, to Yami: "We take a tube, stuff it down their throat, and pour a vitamin mix down it. Now do you want me to do that?"

Yami's eyes were open, and he was staring at Rae.

"Good," Rae noised, heading for the stairs as quickly as she could without running. "Glad we had this little chat."

Yugi blinked, then turned back to Yami. "Come on, Yami, you have to try this."

He was staring at Yugi now. "Your head looks funny," he managed finally.

His hat—he had forgotten. Yami had never seen him without his hat. "Willow combed my hair," he said. "Now come on—try the soup. It's good."

Yami managed a few laps before laying his head back down and closing his eyes. A few minutes later, he was asleep, breathing evenly.

"Yeah, good chat," Yugi muttered, hugging his knees to his chest.

* * *

They said nothing—simply sat by the remains of the dinner fire, drinking tea and watching the kids. They had a habit of feigning sleep, he had warned.

So, when they finished, she stood up and indicated that he follow. They picked their way through the room and out onto the porch.

"I don't like this," Rae said, once Wilson had closed the door.

"You lived by yourself for years—it's no wonder you're less than thrilled at guests," he murmured.

She took the hint and lowered her voice. "Let me reiterate—I have a _thing_ in my springhouse, that may or may not….And then you have that boy there….You won't be able to carry your plan out."

"One can only hope," he said, looking up. She followed suit. The stars were shining brightly tonight.

"I don't think the boy trusts you," she said finally.

"I don't either," he sighed. "I would have expected it from Joey or Tristan, but not from Yugi."

"And yet you still think your plan is going to work?"

"It'll have to."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, heading back inside and to bed. "Well then, wake me up tomorrow—I don't want to miss the show."


	42. Wilson Departs

**Chapter 42, everybody! In which a certain gentleman scientist skedaddles….**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Yup—"I love it when a plan comes together!" Except when it blows up in someone's face (but it makes good writing that way). Good question—he didn't tell me either….Yeah, it's gotten a little repetitive (and ORAS has cured me of ever paying full price for a Pokémon game again…)—I personally think that Pokémon would benefit from having an MMORPG designed around it****—b****ut what do I know? Hm, maybe I should look up _Pokémon Conquest_ then….And I'm sorry, but I find it kind of funny that it was walking diagonally what killed it for you. XD And yeah, homework should probably be at the top of that list…which reminds me—I have school to do. :|**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"What!? What do you mean, you're leaving?"

Wilson held his hands up, apparently oblivious to their dismayed expressions. "We need supplies, and right now we are straining Miss Rae's hospitality—"

"Have you seen that springhouse?" Joey asked. "How are we straining it? It's packed!"

"_That is not yours, Mr. Wheeler_. Miss Rae has agreed to play hostess, but in order to feed Frostmore, you're asking her to part with more than she is able to. I'm heading into the capital to garner supplies, and no, I will not need help."

"And why not?" Joey snapped.

Yugi and Willow looked back to Wilson, spectators watching the ball zing back and forth.

"Because you are not subtle and you are not possessing of the qualities of finesse or business savvy. If you were to accompany me, you would hinder, not help."

"And what if someone jumps you?"

"That will not happen where I'm heading."

"Okay, so we've established that Joey isn't going," Tristan cut in. "What about me? What about Willow? What about Yugi? What about Serenity?"

"Miss Wheeler is to stay here until she recuperates, and so are the rest of you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a long day ahead of me."

And with that, he shouldered his backpack and began to walk off.

Yugi felt helpless—trust him or no, they _needed_ Wilson. They needed someone who knew what they were doing.

"Hold on!" Joey yelled, chasing after him. "I don't care _what_ you say, you're not going off by yourself!"

Wilson spun around. _"For once in your bloody lives, will you listen to me!?"_

Yugi flinched—Wilson _never_ snapped at anyone, never raised his voice at anyone. What was going on?

Wilson pointed at Joey. "Stay. Put. Here," he commanded.

This time, when he left, no one stopped him.

* * *

Yugi was back in the springhouse, trying a different tactic.

"Here," Yugi said, holding up his googly-eyed hat. "You can borrow my hat—it'll make you feel better."

And with that, he slipped it on Yami's head, behind the antlers.

Yami was still behaving drowsily, and no one had been able to roust him from it. Wilson could have probably figured out a way, but….

Yugi tried very hard to control his emotions at that. Why had Wilson left by himself?

"Hey."

Yugi turned to see Joey on the steps of the springhouse.

"She's busy—come on, let's go."

Yugi blinked. "Go where?" he asked.

"We're going after Wilson."


	43. After Wilson

**Chapter 43, everybody! And the last of Part 1….**

**Just a heads-up—starting next week, _The Frost King_ will switch to updating every Saturday and dropping the Tuesday update. This isn't for any crucial reason—it's just that the weather finally broke for the most part and it makes the writing on this story slower (apologies to those on the other side of the equator who are just now heading into winter).**

**_The Frost King_ will resume its twice-a-week schedule December 1st.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Rae was busy with her meager livestock—so _that_ was what Joey had meant.

"We'll be back," Yugi told Willow, as Joey consoled his sister. "We're just going to help Wilson. You know he won't accept help otherwise."

Willow nodded. "He's weird like that." Her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait—_you're_ going?"

Yugi nodded. "Someone's got to keep an eye on those two."

"And you don't think I could?"

"No! No," Yugi backtracked. "But I need someone I can trust to keep an eye on Yami."

Willow blinked. "Really?"

He smiled. "Don't let that get around, by the way."

She nodded, and they waved as Yugi dashed off after the boys—

He stopped, ran back to her before he could talk himself out of it, and hugged her.

She returned it. "Everything's going to be all right," she said into his ear.

Yugi nodded. "I'll try to keep that in mind," he murmured.

They broke from the hug. "Now go," she commanded. "Before those guys leave without you."

* * *

They struck off in the general direction that Wilson had set off in, journey made marginally easier by following the gentleman scientist's footprints through the increasingly sandy ground.

The first few hours were touch-and-go, with only Tristan's tracking skills enabling them to stay on course. Yugi tried to keep their position relative to Rae's cabin in mind—he didn't want to get irreparably lost. Pity Wilson hadn't made a second compass for them to use—but then again, he had probably intended that they stay at Rae's.

Again, that worry about Wilson surfaced—but this time, there was nothing quiet nor niggling about it. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out why Wilson would strike out on his own. Wilson never did anything without giving it careful consideration and weighing all the issues. This was risky business. This wasn't like Wilson at all.

Yugi could understand wanting to leave Joey behind—Joey had no limiter on his mouth. But he couldn't understand going off on his own. And to be honest, he couldn't shake the feeling that Wilson had something sinister planned for the Frost King.

Yami. He hoped he was okay.

_Stop that_, he scolded. _Yami's fine—Willow's keeping an eye on him, remember?_

It helped marginally.

* * *

Rae was beyond furious when she found out.

"Okay, let me make sure I understand this," she said, switching from her loud swearing rant to a controlled hiss—Willow was beginning to see Yugi's point about her. "You two let them leave…._And you didn't do anything to stop them?!"_

"They wanted to make sure Mr. Wilson was all right!" Serenity wailed.

Rae stared at her. "Wilson is a grown man! If he wants to go headfirst off a cliff, then he's an idiot! Those boys are _not_ grown men, so there is no _if_."

"Yugi's not a moron," Willow pointed out.

"Good for him," Rae hissed. "But I doubt Yugi carries much weight with your group, now does he?"

Willow was silent at that. No, no Yugi didn't.

"Besides, human brains aren't mature until twenty-five," Rae added.

"Who says?" Willow asked.

"Brain-people," Rae said, waving them off. "I suppose I'll have to let them go and let them get chewed out on Wilson's end—I can't leave you all here."

"You're just going to let them run off?" Willow asked.

"_I'm sorry_, did I miss the part where the thing in my springhouse has gotten out of its funk?"

"Yami's not an _it,_" Serenity insisted.

Willow watched Rae for a reaction, but she didn't bat an eye. Wow, that was control. "Fine then: _he_ is not fit to be moved. And unless you can get him to, we're staying right here."

Well, at least she wasn't going to head them off. Willow looked to the south, where they had disappeared to.

"Question," Rae noised, suddenly in front of her. "Why didn't _you_ go, if he's so important to you?"

She could guess who the _he_ was. "I'm keeping an eye on Yami."

Rae raised an eyebrow, but left it at that.

After she went into the house, Serenity came over and sat by Willow.

"They'll be all right, right?" she asked.

"They'll be back," Willow declared. "I know they'll come back."

All of them, she silently added.


	44. Part II - The Sunlit Kingdom

**Chapter 44, everybody! And the beginning of Part II!**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Bummer—hope you get better soon. Yeah, sorry—it's hard to write for something called _The Frost King_ in eighty-degree weather, even with the change of locale the characters have gotten. Don't worry, though, the Saturday updates will stay steady, and I'll be uploading a fresh multi-chapter story for Tuesdays (probably a _Don't Starve/Portal_ crossover). Yes, get more sleep****—you need strength to be able to review!**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

They stopped early in the evening.

They had agreed that Wilson would probably press on until nightfall, but they couldn't risk continuing on much longer. With the flat environment, Wilson could probably spot a fire a ways away, and besides that, they couldn't risk running across him in the middle of the night. He'd kick their cans the whole way back to Rae's.

Or worse.

During the whole day of walking, Yugi had worked himself into a frenzied worry. He had picked apart every single instance involving Wilson as far back as he could remember, turning them over and over and over in his head until he had slanted each and every bit into something sinister. By the time they stopped, Yugi was convinced that the gentleman scientist had duplicitous duties wherever he was heading.

He didn't get much sleep that night.

* * *

A slight breeze made them pick up the pace the next day. It was sweeping away Wilson's footprints, and they couldn't allow themselves to be stranded in the middle of the desert.

Yugi kept spitting sand out as it blew into their faces, keeping his head down as they ran up an incline.

"_Woah,_" he heard Joey and Tristan noise.

Yugi reached the top—

_"Woah,_" he agreed.

The Sunlit Kingdom.

It was just as his grandfather described.

Golden-tan square buildings, colorful streets, a broad sparkling river protecting them from a dangerous-looking canyon, and the palace, a jewel of gold domes and colored bricks.

"It's amazing," Yugi breathed.

"How are we ever going to find Wilson in that?" Tristan asked.

Yugi could see his point—the buildings spread out halfway to the horizon, it seemed, a huge warren of color. Anyone could disappear into it.

"Well, we ain't going to find him standing here," Joey decided, sliding down the slope.

Yugi glanced at Tristan, shrugged, and slid down the slope after Joey.

* * *

It had taken maybe half an hour to get to the first buildings.

Upon arrival, Yugi worried that he was going to burst from excitement.

There was so much to see, so much going on, that he couldn't look everywhere and absorb everything fast enough. Worries about Wilson were driven from his mind—right now, he was more concerned with remembering everything so he could describe it to Yami and Willow later.

"We should buy something," Yugi suggested, when he realized that the booths set up were stalls. "And take it back to the others—so they don't feel so bad about being left behind."

"With what though?" Joey asked, equally taken up. "I didn't think to bring anything like that."

"No surprise there," Tristan said. "And you guys are losing track of what we're _supposed_ to be doing—looking for Wilson, remember?"

"Oh, right." Joey stopped a person. "Say, have you seen a guy about yea high with spiky hair come by here? Smiles like this." And with that, Joey imitated Wilson's scowl.

Yugi, meanwhile, was staring at some of the people going by. Some were light-skinned, like them, shuffling about with their heads down…but the vast majority had darker bronze skin. He had never seen anyone with that skin tone before. His grandfather was darker than the rest of Frostmore, but even he was pale compared to these people.

"Yeesh, that guy was no help," Joey muttered.

Oop—they had caught him staring. Yeah, that was rude….

Wait—Yugi glanced around. There were a _lot_ of people staring.

"Joey, Tristan," Yugi said, tapping one of their shoulders. "People are staring…."

Someone was calling for the guard. _That_ didn't sound good.

People were muscling in on them now, holding them still despite their fighting—

And then what must have been the guard arrived—they had the same sort of air Ushio had—pointing at Yugi—

"Joey! Tristan!" Yugi screamed as he was taken away.

"Take him to the palace!" someone declared.

Ten minutes, Yugi reflected. Ten minutes in the Sunlit Kingdom before his death.

He hoped Willow and Yami would be all right.


	45. The King of Thieves

**Chapter 45, everybody! In which we find Wilson once more….Picture Akeifa Gazim as looking like Aladdin's father in _Aladdin and the King of Thieves _(whose name is really Cassim, but by the time I realized it, it was too late).**

**Yuko13, thanks for the review! Nope, not a bit—they're a lot worse in my world-building notes, but there's actually a reason for this, which we will eventually see. Yeah—once the temperature starts averaging above seventy, my mind switches over to its "summer season" and focuses more on things like my superhero-Yugi story _Sonic X_ or that _Yu-Gi-Oh!/Mask_ thing or _Glint and the Pirates_ (I'm the only one I know whose mind works like the TV). The good news is, my writing doesn't slow down—it just shifts focus. Wow, that is hot—is it like Arizona in that it's a dry heat? Oh dear….I foresee Joey asking Ryou to get him some phone numbers (or come across him in one of those so-called panty raids—although I wonder if they still do that, considering I only know about that because of an episode of _Happy Days_). One never knows where ideas come from (Divine Providence and dreams come to mind), but it's good to take them when they come. Thanks! I hope you might like it—that one updates every Tuesday, although I might punch it up a bit if it garners enough interest (but I doubt it).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Joey managed to free an arm and swung, blackening a guy's eye. Tristan kicked at a guard as the crowd yelled about killing the pale skins—what was up with that?

"Excuse us for not working on our tans!" Joey yelled, trying to rip his other arm away. Other people were snatching at them now, pulling them first one way, then the other—

And then they were flung into a dark room, door slamming behind them.

"Hey!" Joey snapped, spinning around.

And then his blood boiled when he saw who had shut the door.

_"You,"_ Joey growled.

* * *

Wilson had to be honest, he wasn't surprised when Joey roundhoused him.

He _did_ surprise himself by returning the hit.

He blamed the sleepless nerve-wracking few days he had had. Walking straight through the night with only a torch for lighting, trying to maneuver through the Sunlit Kingdom without being accosted, finding an ally in the streets….

It was fair to say that his nerves were raw at this point, and he certainly did _not_ need two idiots and the problems they had brought with them.

"Ach, Wilson," someone else in the room said. "I thought you said these were your friends."

"How did you get that out of 'I know those idiots'?" Wilson asked, massaging his jaw with his other hand. The one he had used to punch Joey was throbbing now—not his most thought-through moment.

Joey had recovered, however, and had launched himself at Wilson—he was suddenly preoccupied with keeping the young man from throttling him.

All movement ceased, however, when the flat of a blade was laid on Joey's arm.

"Let's keep this violence to a minimum, eh?" Akeifa Gazim said. "You've all come a long way, from the sounds of it, and I'm willing to bet that none of you have had a good night's sleep."

Joey exhibited his usual lack of tact. "And who are _you_?"

"Akeifa Gazim," Gazim said. "King of Thieves, and I daresay one of the few friends you have in the Sunlit Kingdom at the moment." Then, to Wilson: "Things have gotten a lot worse since you left."

"I noticed," Wilson muttered, still dedicating most of his effort to loosening Joey's grip.

Joey glared at Wilson. "What is he talking about?"

"I would have told you," Wilson said evenly. "If it weren't for the fact that you never listen to me anyway—so why waste my breath?"

"We're listening now," Tristan said. "What's going on?"

"Hold it!" Joey demanded. "Forget these two—we have to rescue Yugi!"

"Yugi?" Gazim asked. "He lives?"

"I see _you_ weren't listening to me either," Wilson observed.

"They said something about taking him to the palace—" Tristan began.

"Great! Let's go!" Joey declared.

Gazim subtly moved so he was blocking the door. "Move it," Joey demanded.

"You'd do well to exercise caution," Gazim informed him. "I'm not sure if you've picked this up, but Pale Skins aren't exactly welcome here."

"Can we help it if we haven't gotten enough sun?" Tristan asked.

"He's not commenting on your lack of a tan," Wilson said. "This is _precisely_ why I didn't want you to come."

"Okay, argue later," Joey said. "We gotta rescue Yugi _now_."

"He can keep," Wilson said, ducking the next roundhouse that Joey threw at him. "They're not going to hurt him," he continued, once Tristan had secured Joey.

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Joey spat, struggling.

"Because they're not going to murder the only remaining heir to the crown," Gazim said. "At least, not right away."


	46. The Brother Prince

**Chapter 46, everybody! In which Yugi becomes very confused….**

**Fromtheashtrees (the Reviewer formerly known as Yuko13), thanks for the review! Yes, that seems to be the stereotype, but that was how the story unfolded in front of me, so I went with it. I do recommend "The Princess and the Dragon" by Kohaku no Hime if you're hankering for a story in which Yugi is a secondary character (actually, you should just go check that story out anyway—it's good). And oh my goodness, yes—we'll be discussing that the chapter after next, I think. Huh—so you have our sort of weather during the summer (curse those shows that mislead people into thinking only of the Outback -_-). Yes! Plan! Outline! Story notes are important for keeping things straight and moving along—and they save you when you leave the story for a while and then come back. :) Yay! Thanks for looking—and play that _Portal 2!_ You don't know what you're missing!**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi was in a panic by the time they reached the gates.

He was being carried through the streets by a tightly-packed contingent of guards, unable to cry out or call for help. He couldn't even squirm out of these people's grip.

Inanely, he thought of Willow and Yami again. They'd be sitting at Rae's, wondering what happened to him. How long would they wait? He hoped that they wouldn't—he hoped Willow would try to take Yami back up the mountain. He should have told her to do so if they didn't come back.

He should have told her a lot of things, he realized.

And then they were in the palace, and the lead guard was addressing some important-looking guy in a skirt—

And then said guy in the skirt was glaring at him.

"Hello," Yugi tried, his voice small. Oh man, somebody, _anybody_—he needed some help here—

"Bring forth the items," skirt-guy announced.

Yugi blinked, then watched in confusion as four other people came to see him, each one holding some odd gold object—scales, a necklace, a key, a rod—skirt-guy had a ring that someone presented him—

"Akenhadin," Skirt-guy said. "Turn your eye upon him—is this your nephew?"

Wait—_what?_

Spotting the guy in question, Yugi sincerely hoped not—the guy looked mean, and he looked angry, although he disguised it quickly.

"I cannot," he said—what was with these guys and speaking so properly? "I refuse to get my hopes up only to have them dashed once more."

Skirt-guy turned to the others. "What have the items revealed?"

The only woman of the group turned to him. "This is indeed Brother Prince Yugi."

Well, _he_ could have told them _that_, if they had asked—wait, _what?_

"Present him to the Crown King," skirt-guy declared.

"Uh," Yugi started, but was quickly silenced and dragged into another room, this one much larger—

And deposited in front of some guy in a seat.

"Kneel before your king," skirt-guy hissed before addressing the guy in the seat.

"Oh King, live forever," he said. "We found this boy in the streets—please, grace him with your gaze and tell us: is this your lost nephew?"

Wait—_what?_ How many uncles did he _have?_

The guy in the seat leaned forward slightly, enough for Yugi to see that he was old and withered and slightly mad-looking. He gave Yugi the impression that he had been sick and wasting away for some time.

The man smiled, hands absently picking at his fine robes and then twitching at Yugi. Yugi was beginning to feel _really_ uncomfortable.

"Yami?" the man asked in a hoarse whisper. "Yami, is that you?"

Yugi blinked. "Wait, _what?"_ he said, unable to stop his disbelief. How did _this_ guy know Yami?

Apparently, the comment threw skirt-guy too. "Your majesty, you may be mistaken," he said. "This is the Brother Prince, Yugi—we have searched his heart with the Millennium Items to ensure there is no mistake."

"Of course there is no mistake," the old man said, still in that hoarse whisper—Yugi wondered if he talked very often. "I'd know him anywhere."

Yugi was very uncomfortable now. "Uh," he tried, in a very small voice. "Can I go now?..."

"Yes, yes!" the man said, pointing at him. _Oh boy…._ "He must be given the finest rooms and the best clothes—and we must have a feast celebrating my son's return!"

Disbelief was still very strong, but a sick feeling was rising to join it. What was he talking about? This couldn't have been his dad! His mom had said his dad was dead!

Of course, looking at him….

People came to attend to the guy in the seat, and skirt-guy lead Yugi away.

"You will have to be patient with him," skirt-guy murmured. "He is the Crown King of the kingdom, and therefore deserving of our respect and love…but the loss of his son drove him mad with grief."

"Uh, what's going on here?" Yugi asked, still quiet from nervousness. "I'm…I'm not…."

"You are—do not deny it."

"I can't be that guy's _son!"_

"You are not," skirt-guy said. "But I see that many years away from the Sunlit Kingdom's light has done ill for you—be glad you are no longer among the Pale Skins in the cold, and that by being the Crown King's nephew, you are afforded the protection the title deserves."

"Um," Yugi noised. "You're saying a lot, but I haven't understood a word you've said."

"Ah, the slurred words of the Pale Skins," skirt-guy sighed. "We will work on your diction. In the meantime, this is one of your rooms." He led Yugi into a room bigger than the communal hall of Frostmore. "I am sorry it is so small—we have not yet had time to properly prepare one of the Royal Rooms."

"Uh," Yugi noised again.

"If you need anything, avail yourselves of the guards," skirt guy said, bowing as he shuffled out. He indicated the guards flanking the door. "They will protect and serve the returned prince quite willingly."

"Uh," Yugi noised again.

But the guy was gone.

After several minute's deliberation, Yugi approached the guards at the door. "Uh, if I try to leave, would you stop me?"

"We would follow you," one guard said.

"Anywhere?"

"Anywhere," the other guard affirmed.

Yugi could practically feel the walls closing in.

And then another thought occurred to him.

"Wait—what if I have to go to the bathroom?"


	47. Splitting Wood

**Chapter 47, everybody! In which Rae teaches Willow and Serenity a skill….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Haha, glad you liked it. :D True—he _is_ the main character in the source material, after all. I'll have to consider it—Australia is on that list of non-American places I'd like to see before I die (that and New Zealand and the Caribbean—it's not a very long list :|). Yes, plan! Otherwise you'll spend 10+ years on a story that you really like but have no idea what to do with it (although mine was more writer's block—*bleh* just as bad). Write everything down—trust me, you will not remember if you don't. :| Ah, yes, time—you never have enough when you need it….Oh, and to answer the question you asked in your other review, I'll see what I can do and let you know in June (because next week I have mondo final what will take up all my time). XP**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Willow watched as Rae busted another piece of wood.

"That's amazing," Serenity said. "How do you do that? My brother can't even bust a piece that big."

"Your brother doesn't know how to chop wood then," Rae said. "Come over here—I'll show you."

Willow wasn't sure of the wisdom of being so near an ax-wielding might-be-crazy lady, but Serenity had already gone over. The girl was too trusting, Willow reflected as she followed.

"First thing's first," Rae said, once they were near and she had positioned them so they were behind and away from the wood. "When dealing with anything wooden, the thing to remember is to go _with_ the grain. There's a reason going against the grain is synonymous with doing something the hard way—go with the grain, and you work the wood, instead of the wood working you."

"How do you know this?" Serenity asked.

"And does it work?" Willow added.

"To answer the first question: my Dad taught me," Rae said. "And to answer the second: yes. Watch." She turned a piece of wood so it was upright in front of her. "See the grain here? See how it curves here?" She stood back. "Make sure you're arm's length from the wood, so you don't have to bend your arms—you lose a lot of momentum that way."

"Like the physics Wilson goes on about," Willow said.

"I'll wager he doesn't have any trouble chopping wood."

"Not really."

"Women aren't supposed to do work like that anyway," Serenity added.

"Do you see anyone out here doing this for me?" Rae asked. "Now watch."

And with that, she tapped the wood with the axe, swung it up and behind her—

And then brought the axe down.

The head imbedded itself in the wood.

"That was disappointing," Willow commented.

"Oh yea of little faith," Rae said, knocking the piece over and levering the axe out. "Ah…see that?" she indicated a dark spot. "There's a knot in the wood—you want to work around those."

"Why?" Serenity asked.

"Because no amount of busting is going to break such a knot—the wood is too closely packed together." Rae turned the piece around and set it up again. "Let me try a different angle."

And she hit it again.

The wood split.

"Ta-da," Rae noised, levering it the rest of the way open. "And that is how you split wood—by playing smarter, not harder."

"I want to try," Serenity said.

"All right….Here," Rae said, selecting a rather thin piece and setting it in front of her. "This is a good one so you can get a feel for it. No knots, not too thick—you hit it right, you'll go through it like a hot knife through butter."

"Why do people say that?" Willow asked.

"Good question," Rae noised. "It's a very trite expression—but trite expressions do have their use and place. Nearly everyone knows what happens when a hot knife meets butter—it implies that no resistance will be met. The one _I_ wonder about is 'easy as pie'—I tried baking a pie once, and it was the hardest thing I ever cooked. You're doing it wrong," she added, addressing Serenity. "You're too close to the wood. Take a few steps back." She moved her to the proper distance. "Now touch the axe blade to the wood, like you would if you were swinging." Serenity did so. "That's how you can tell if your arms are extended properly or not. You're good now. Lift…a little farther…." She put a hand to Willow and pulled her back. "Okay…bring it down."

Serenity did so, expending much more energy than Willow thought necessary.

The wood cleaved in two, both pieces spinning away as the axe blade imbedded itself in the ground.

"And that is why it's important to watch where you stand," Rae added, indicating the distance the wood had flown.

Serenity, however, was hopping up and down. "I did it! I did it!"

"Congratulations, I taught you a trick," Rae noised, rolling her eyes. "Use it in good health."

"At least someone's health improved," Willow muttered.

"How _is_ our iceboxed friend?" Rae asked.

"Very much like he has been," Willow sighed.

Indeed, the Frost King's health had not changed. It had not worsened, which Willow supposed was good, but it had not improved, either. Not that she would have been able to tell if it worsened or not.

_You can't take care of something if you don't understand it,_ Wilson's scolding from forever came back, when she had found a downed chick in the woods and brought it home. She had persisted, insisting that the mother was gone—feathers had been scattered about. Wilson had expressed no surprise when the chick died a week later, but Yugi sat with her as she cried it out of her system—Wilson had confiscated her lighter to prevent her from burning things, although he later allowed it when they held a small service for the bird and cremated it.

Willow shut down that train of thought quickly—she did not need to be worrying about those two when she couldn't do anything about it either way.

She hated that helpless feeling.

Perhaps, she reflected, watching Rae set up another piece for Serenity to split, that was why Rae was out here by herself. She had everything she needed and no one else to worry about. There had to be something beneficial to that lifestyle, she mused.

But then again, she couldn't really imagine life without Yugi or Wilson.

_You're living it now_, she reminded herself bitterly.

She turned on her heel and went to the springhouse.

* * *

Yami was still sleeping.

"You sleep too much," Willow said, gently patting his fluffy ruff. It used to be that she couldn't even stand near him—to be touching him now worried her deeply.

"Come on, Yami," Willow begged. "You've got to get better—you can surprise Yugi when he comes back, jump on him. Or on Wilson—Wilson would _hate_ that. But we'd like it."

Yami sort of slit one eye open, just enough to look at her, but didn't say anything. He hadn't been speaking recently. Not since Yugi left.

"How is he?" Serenity asked, coming down.

"Same," Willow said, not wanting to give voice to her worry. It wasn't that she didn't like Serenity, but she didn't have much empathy with her. Serenity was one of those girls who liked to stay in, while Willow was most happy when she was out tromping in the woods, trailing behind Wilson or leading Yugi into trouble.

She missed them.

"You need to shape up, fuzz-face," Rae said, prompting Willow to look up—she was sitting higher up on the steps, as though Yami made her uncomfortable. "I'll never be able to get you out of my springhouse if you die down here—there was enough trouble getting you in."

"That's mean," Serenity said.

No, Willow realized, Rae was simply trying to distance herself from an unpleasant train of thought. She had her measure now, Willow thought—that perhaps under the caustic exterior, there was a person who avoided relationships because she knew they would end, often painfully.

No. Willow couldn't believe that—she had to believe that Yugi and Wilson would return to her, and in one piece.

"He needs a story," Willow declared, patting Yami again. She stroked his fur, noting how slow his breathing was. "A good story," she added.

In response, Serenity looked to Rae. Willow followed suit, to see that Rae had an oddly inscrutable expression, as though she was considering something beyond them.

It was the sort of look Wilson often had, come to think of it.

"Okay, I think I may have something," Rae said finally. The girls hunkered down next to Yami, continually patting his fur as Rae began.

"Long ago, when the pyramids were still young…."


	48. Small Windows

**Chapter 48, everybody! In which planning happens….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes—unfortunately, we don't get to hear it, but I thought it was a nice callback to the first few episodes of _Yu-Gi-Oh!: DM_ (not sure how consistent it stayed, but in the US release that was the starting line for those episodes). Someday we will….And yay! Another new thing not learned on a Friday! Success! :D Yes—only three non-American places. I want to visit all fifty states first, which will probably take a while. Are you kidding? Mom will be booking tickets as soon as she hears that—she hates cold weather (February is her least-favorite month). Hate writer's block—take an axe to it! I look forward to your looking forward—and everything's happening next week for two reasons: one, to give me a little time to plan the next big thing, and two, I have a minimum-ten-page final this week. D:**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"What do you mean, Yugi's a prince?"

"Did I stutter?" Wilson asked.

"The Sunlit Kingdom has a complex hierarchy," Gazim explained. "Yugi is the Brother Prince, son of the Brother King and his wife, the Sister Queen."

"Wait," Tristan noised. "Does that mean Hannah's a _queen?"_

"Very much so," Wilson said.

"Then why didn't anyone _say_ anything?"

Gazim laughed. "If I know Hannah, it's because she doesn't enjoy special treatment. Does it still hold true?"

"Very much so," Wilson said.

"But _why?"_ Tristan pressed.

"Because Hannah is a Pale Skin," Gazim said. "It is not in their nature."

"It used to be," Wilson muttered.

"Enough of this!" Joey exclaimed, jumping up, the action drawing stares.

They had relocated to one of Gazim's safe houses in Kul Elna, an action that in Wilson's opinion had been fraught with danger, considering present company. But then again, seeing the skeletons mounted on the outskirts of town had toned Joey and Tristan down considerably.

Wilson had kept the fact that the skeletons were from long-deceased thieves and mounted at the deceased's request to himself.

"Would you sit down, please?" Wilson asked. "If you actually behave like a respectable human being, you might actually learn something."

"Fine," Joey spat, sitting back down. "Now spill."

"Ask nicely first."

Joey called Wilson by some very creative names, but at least there was a _please_ in there.

"Remarkably florid," Gazim commented.

"Very much so," Wilson agreed. "But it's the best we'll ever get from these two.

"To give the high points," Wilson said, addressing the boys. "Yes, Hannah married the Brother Prince, and because of that, she's considered the Sister Queen and Yugi is considered the Brother Prince. What this means, since I see I have lost you, is that they have some pull here. But Pale Skins—such as ourselves—are not considered good for the country, so someone—I'm not speculating as to who—grouped a large number of us up and sent us off on a wild-goose chase."

"I wouldn't have called it a wild-goose-chase," Gazim said.

"But it was with an ultimatum—and while Yugi may be safe for now, so-called purists will be working to intervene soon."

"So why'd you stop us from going after him?" Joey asked.

"Because you would have fought very bravely and died very quickly," Gazim said.

"And you would have given those who detest the Pale Skins the impetus they would have needed to launch full-scale genocide," Wilson pointed out.

"Fortunately for you, not every Tan Skin thinks that way," Gazim said. "The Pale Skins' way of thinking meshes nicely with the Thieves of Kul Elna—we've offered them asylum for years."

"Is that why those uppity-ups don't like us?" Tristan asked.

"No," Wilson sighed, glad that Gazim was the sort to ignore the unintentional slight. "The reason is a little more justified and clinical than that."

"What then?"

"Disease," Wilson said simply. "The Pale Skins came here a long time ago from another continent—Pale Skins and Tan Skins had never before interacted, so it was actually surprisingly obvious that both groups would have diseases they were immune to that the other had never encountered. And yet it didn't occur to anyone until the bodies began piling up."

"That's not _our_ fault," Joey pointed out.

"True," Gazim agreed. "But despite their strengths, Tan Skins retain their superstitions. Even now, the sight of a Pale Skin prompts them to go through their evil-warding motions."

"But they like Yugi."

"For now," Wilson pointed out. "And only by dint of being part Tan Skin. You've never noticed because there's never been an opportunity for it, but if we put you and Yugi in sun for a few hours, Yugi would darken faster and keep it longer."

"And Joey would look like cooked seafood," Gazim pointed out.

"True."

"Okay then," Tristan said—Wilson allowed himself a moment of hope; Tristan had always been the more sensible of the two. "So when do we go get Yugi?"

"Today and tomorrow will see Yugi tightly supervised," Wilson declared, glancing at Gazim for confirmation. "By the third day, the palace guards will begin to relax, which will be when any potential assassins will strike. _We_ will have to get there in the small window between the guards relaxing and the assassins arriving."

"Don't worry," Gazim declared, spotting their expressions. "If there's one thing thieves are good at, it's getting in small windows."


	49. The Ghosts of Plans

**Chapter 49, everybody! In which plans from characters old and new get mentioned, and the writer starts to panic a little bit because her buffer is beginning to run dry….On the plus side, though, have an extra-long chapter. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! We get to see a _hint_ of it—I believe it's called a teaser. That's good to know—I suppose that redubbing the whole thing for different English-speaking countries is a tad silly, even though I did read that _Mad Max_ had some specific slang redubbed when it came to America (I don't know why…). Hey, that's the excuse I use when I watch cartoons—it's the best reason to watch. :D Yes, definitely—I think "Once upon a time" and immediately think of the TV show. Cool—and yes, Mom loves the heat—I told her about our conversation, and she's figuring out how to book tickets. Although granted, it may be difficult considering our lack of desire to ever get on a cruise ship or the increasingly-aggravating airplane….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Gazim checked in on Joey and Tristan for the fifth time that night. Wilson had warned him that the two would try to sneak off anyway, and he had posted guards to ensure they didn't. Visits one through four had been met with glares.

Visit five had the two sleeping, albeit fitfully.

Gazim nodded, left, and told the guards to be alert—he wasn't so stupid as to assume that they weren't above feigning sleep to try to fool them.

That done, he followed a staircase up to one of the surface buildings.

Kul Elna was primarily an underground city, formed by Delvish digging and Sand Dragon warrens. Within the canyons, there were some aboveground settlements—mostly their farming community.

What the Sunlit Kingdom knew as Kul Elna, however, was broken down and abandoned—a ghost town they had cultivated to keep intruders out. It worked quite well, and the occasional movement a passerby would see was generally attributed to a ghost wandering through the streets.

Wilson was up there now in one of the buildings, doing a very good job of perpetuating that myth.

"Perhaps you should avail yourself of your own advice," Gazim advised.

Wilson gave a dismissive wave, not pausing in his pacing.

"I realize you have a tendency to play close to the chest," Gazim continued. "But don't make the mistake of thinking you're the only one here who cares about Yugi's well-being."

Wilson finally stopped and sighed. "The last thing I said to Hannah before I left was that I wouldn't let anything happen to Yugi. And doesn't it figure that those two dutch it up?"

"Do you think it's easy for me to hang back?" Gazim asked. "The boy is my godson, for heaven's sake. But it is as you say—we can't go in too early, or we compromise any chance we have of rescuing the boy."

Wilson's head was still bowed. "You're planning something," Gazim guessed.

Wilson looked at him, the moonless night making him look cadaverous. "There might be something else," he said finally. "But the mere suggestion is dangerous. I want to be able to make sure of it, and for that, I need to be able to find something lost. Are the rumors true, that the royals possess an item that can find anything?"

"The Millennium Ring," Gazim said. "Every thief from here to the Shallow Seas wants to get their hands on it. But I've heard that the items are hexed—even the Item wielders are afraid to stay in contact with them for too long."

"You never struck me as the sort to believe in such truck."

"You never did to me, either—if you don't believe in the curse, then why do you believe in its dowsing abilities?"

"Because at this point, I'm willing to accept some drastic measures."

* * *

"Teana! Teana!"

"Nnn, wha?" Teana noised, not wanting to get up. "'S late, go back to sleep."

"Fine then—if anyone asks, you never saw me."

"I'm up," Teana said, sitting up to give her friend a glare.

The structure of Kul Elna had similarities to an ant farm, thanks to the burrowing of Sand Dragons. The affable beasts dug near the surface and formed sturdy tunnels with little danger of collapse. They were more than willing to dig for and accommodate the thieves in exchange for food and the option to sleep wherever in the warrens they wished. Considering the Sand Dragons exuded a comforting level of heat and slept curled up tight into a ball—not to mention the fact that they kept the larger meat-eating variants of worms at bay—it wasn't much of an inconvenience.

It didn't stop the one sleeping in Teana's room from sparing Bakura a glare before returning to sleep.

It took all of Teana's self-control to not repeat that action.

Bakura, son of Akiefa Gazim, white hair contrasting brilliantly with his tan skin, blue eyes dancing with mischief, scar under his eye pale. He showed evidence of having a parent of foreign blood, like she did.

It was one of the reasons they were with the thieves of Kul Elna. The thieves weren't as selective as the royals.

Granted, with the increasing raids, the thieves couldn't _afford_ to be as selective.

"So what did you do?" Teana asked, once she thought she was awake enough to make a coherent statement. "Did you put tacks in Saluk's shoes again?"

Saluk had long been one of Bakura's targets, simply because the thief took himself too seriously.

She shut down that train of thought quickly—it brought to mind their exploits, the adventures of the three musketeers—

It hurt to think of it now that they were a musketeer short.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "_No_, I did _not_," he said—he must have, to deny it like that. "Besides, I'm too old for that now."

_That_ was a lie. The two boys who factored hugely in her life would never let something like age get in the way.

Bakura definitely wouldn't, now that he felt he was picking up the slack.

Something had changed.

"So what is it?" she asked, all seriousness now.

Bakura glanced around before answering, sparing the Sand Dragon a lingering glance. It opened an eye to glare at him before tightening up tighter, sparing a grumble to let them know it didn't appreciate having its sleep interrupted.

"I'm going after the Millennium Ring."

_That_ elicited a response from both Teana and the Sand Dragon—and not a positive one, either.

"Not so _loud!"_ Bakura hissed.

"_Are you crazy?"_ Teana hissed. "_No one_ goes after the Millennium Items—they're cursed! You saw what happened to the _last_ Item wielder we knew!"

"That's why I'm _getting_ the Ring," Bakura countered, rocking back on his haunches. The Sand Dragon rumbled, letting its discomfort be known. "I'm going to settle it once and for all. I—_we've_ spent seven years fretting over it—now's the time to put it to rest."

Teana exchanged glances with the Sand Dragon—it shook its wedge-shaped head sagely. "What changed?" she asked.

"What makes you think something's changed?"

"Why did it take seven years to do this?"

"Because everyone would have tried to stop me."

"Then why tell me?"

Bakura scowled. Ah, she had caught him.

"Wilson's back," he said finally. "And apparently…he brought the little brother back with him."

The little brother—the cousin. "Yugi?" she guessed. When he nodded: "But what about—"

"No clue, he won't say, and I find it odd that he came back without him," Bakura said quickly. "So I'm going with what I figured a few years back and saying he's dead. The Ring will make sure."

"It doesn't work on other Item wielders."

"Wrong. The _Necklace_ doesn't work on Item wielders. The Ring will search for anything and anyone—unless they're dead—you have to form the search question right."

Teana was quiet for a moment. "You've been planning this for a while, haven't you?"

Bakura scratched his head, obviously aggrieved. "Well…yes….I couldn't stand you pining."

"I do not _pine._"

"You do."

"What do you think?" she asked the Sand Dragon, which had been following the conversation since it wasn't about to get any more sleep. It warbled in response.

"So when do you _think_ you're going to pull this off?" she asked Bakura.

"Two days," he explained. "Wilson and Dad are going to be staging a rescue, and assassins are going to be trying then—"

"Assassins?"

"_Yes_—or did you make the mistake of thinking that the royals had a life full of sunshine and happiness? They made the mistake of making themselves targets—of _course_ there's going to be assassins after any heirs. And in two days, everyone's guards are going to be down. It's the perfect window."

"But with everyone coming in then, you're heading headfirst into danger."

"No I won't—the guards will be too busy with everyone else; the treasure room will be left wide open."

"You're going to get caught."

"No I won't."

"Yes you will—you're greedy."

"I can focus when I want to."

"You'll see all that gold and get distracted."

"No I won't."

The Sand Dragon warbled again. "No comments from the peanut gallery!" Bakura snapped, borrowing a term from the Pale Skins.

Teana sighed. "There's no way I'm talking you out of this, is there?"

"No."

"Fine then," she said, taking her necklace off. It had come from the treasure room—a gift. "Here," she said, putting it on Bakura. "To keep you focused."

She tried to avoid noticing Bakura's blush. "I'm not _that_ hopeless," he muttered.

"You are," she said, rolling back into bed. "Now if you'll excuse me, _some_ of us don't keep all sorts of odd hours."

The Sand Dragon garbled in assent.

Bakura sat with his back to the bed. "You'd make a terrible thief," he grumbled.

"Good night, Bakura," Teana stressed.

"Good night."

"Good luck," she quietly added.


	50. The Cleansing

**Chapter 50, everybody! A landmark chapter, in which Yugi takes a bath and the writer feels that a crisis has been averted now that the buffer is built back up….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi's hope that the weirdness of yesterday was all just a horrible dream was dashed when he woke up in the huge, empty, strange room.

Granted, it had taken him forever to fall asleep to begin with—with the exception of that time in the Frost King's lair, Yugi had never been away from his friends or family. And while the time in Yami's lair had been just as taut with fear and danger as this was, there wasn't as much hopelessness involved then—sure, stories of the Frost King, plus his beastly appearance, had made the night horrifying. But it was hard to _stay_ scared when it was coupled with his boundless enthusiasm and curiosity. When Yugi had finally fallen asleep, he had lost his fear of the Frost King.

Here, there was no one to talk to, to keep asking endless questions to be answered, to keep his worries at bay. Unlike Yami's lair, which was chock full of the junk he had collected and therefore seemed much smaller than it was, this…_room_ was huge, empty, and echo-y. There was no soul—the ice cave had been homier than this.

Yugi reflected that it was odd that he was comparing this room with an ice cave, but then again, they were the only places he had ever been away from those who had factored so hugely in his life—his mom, his grandfather, Joey, Tristan, Willow, Wilson—

Ow.

Wilson was right, Wilson was absolutely right—they should have stayed at Rae's. He had been so distrustful of the gentleman scientist—but then again, why didn't Wilson _say_ anything? Yugi would have understood….

Actually, no, no he wouldn't have. And he _certainly_ didn't understand _this_—why did these people think he was a _prince?_ It was absurd!

Well, there was a way to fix all this.

Yugi glanced over at the door—the guards weren't looking in. There was a big hole in the wall with a big balcony—time to see if he couldn't escape.

He carefully padded over, shoes in hand—sleeping in just his socks was a new luxury he had discovered at Rae's, now that he didn't have to worry about frostbite. Once he was at the balcony, he glanced back at the guards, then walked out into the sun.

_Woah_.

Okay, the nebulous idea of a conveniently placed trellis (as Cecelia's stories had often included—Yugi had had to ask her what a trellis was before she could continue) wasn't panning out. Obviously, whoever designed this place had not accounted for teenagers with a need to escape.

Worse, there were people milling about in the vast…yard thing, and they were pointing and some were starting to cheer—

Yugi backed up quickly, deciding he needed to find another way out—

Just in time to find out that the guards had allowed a bunch of strange people into the room.

"We are the cleansing entourage," the head lady announced, bowing slightly; the others were bowing more deeply—Yugi had the feeling it was because they weren't talking to him. "It is our job to help you prepare in the morning."

Wait—what?

* * *

What followed had to amount to the most embarrassing and insulting and downright _horrifying_ two hours of Yugi's life.

Apparently, people in the Sunlit Kingdom did not clean themselves—they had twenty other people do it for them. It was Yugi's opinion that these people had to be the laziest people who ever lived, if they had other people clean them—and then he spent the next five minutes trying to figure out the logistics of it, if each one of these people had to have twenty other people help—and then how did they cycle it?

Trying to figure out how they pulled it off, however, was quickly put on the back burner when these people insisted on bathing him properly and getting him out of _those horrid Pale Skin clothes_—which included pretty much ripping everything off.

"Hey! Hey! Stop that! _Hey!"_ He ripped his arm away from yet another grabbing hand as it reached for a small woven bracelet—it was just something silly he and Willow had made one day from leftover fabric, mostly for Yami's benefit, although he had contributed pine needles from Lief and a few strands of his own fluff and a red cardinal feather. But right now, far away from his friends, what he had first thought was a silly little trinket was suddenly a very important gift from his two best friends, and he wasn't about to let these people touch it.

"I can clean myself up, thank you very much!" he snapped, trying to back away from everybody while simultaneously trying to protect his wrist.

"Leave the trinket," the head lady said, waving imperiously. "We must continue the process."

Any question as to what that meant was quickly answered when he was thrown into a tub full of water.

"_Gyah!"_ Yugi gasped upon surfacing.

"It would have been warm if you had not resisted," the head lady said.

Seriously? She thought this water was _cold?_

Yugi didn't protest, however, and simply focused on protecting his bracelet and enduring this torture. Who on earth thought this was a good idea?

"Where are they going?" he asked suddenly, spotting two people leaving with his belongings. "Those are my clothes—I need those."

"You do not need Pale Skin rags," the head lady insisted. What, was no one else allowed to talk?

He noticed one girl adding soap to the water and looking uncomfortable. "You could help me out," Yugi hissed. "If you don't like this either, then why don't you _say_ something?"

"She cannot," the head lady said. "It is an honor to serve the royals—and besides, a peon like her has had her tongue removed, as they cannot be trusted to keep royal secrets."

Wait—what?

Yugi felt very, very ill.

He had to get out of there.


	51. Rae's Ice Trick

**Chapter 51, everybody! In which Rae makes ice without a freezer….I first saw this "trick" on an episode of _Jericho_ (great show, by the way) and it made such an impression on me that I remembered it ever since—yes, it works, and so does the other trick that Rae mentions, which involves burying two jugs in the ground and covering them with a cloth….Go look up "Making ice without a freezer" for more information (or "Making ice with fertilizer")—it's really quite cool (forgive the pun). ****Robert Bateman is a real artist, by the way—go check his work out. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Too true. Hey, you lived (they need to make more t-shirts like that)! I figured it was something like school or vacation (I guess that'd be a little bit of both?). Yep, that'd probably do it—although Mom's fervor to visit has waned a bit since I told her about the weather forecast being cloudy with a chance of spiders. *~* Okay, that is really rockin'—I just looked Coober Pedy up, and that is definitely going to be the main resource if I ever get around to illustrating the Kul Elna chapters. And hey, Australian Rules Football team and glow-in-the-dark golf! Cool! :D Very nice—although I hear if you wear opals when they aren't your birthstone, it's bad luck (but hey, indoor swimming pool makes it sound like good luck to me!). Oh yes, definitely. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"We have to do something about Yami."

Rae was really beginning to dislike the group she had been stuck with. Willow especially—what, precisely, did she expect Rae to do?

"I'm open to suggestions," Rae said, when it was evident that Willow was waiting for a response.

"If I knew what to do, I wouldn't be asking," Willow stated. Ah, so she could give as good as she got.

"What do you want me to do? It's not like dragging him back up the mountain is a viable option, and unless you've cooked up a way to make ice—"

She froze then.

She might actually have a way to fix that.

Oh _please,_ let her still have that book.

* * *

Willow decided that Rae was very much like Wilson in that she ran off without explaining anything to anyone. When she tracked Rae down, it was to find a rug in the house thrown back, a trapdoor wide open, and Rae in a previously unknown basement.

"Wow," Willow declared upon descending the steps.

"Oooh," Serenity noised, following.

Shelves everywhere—lining the walls, going lengthwise across the basement—and every one chock-full of books. There was a record player—Willow recognized it from a sketch Wilson had done once—sitting beside the steps, surrounded by boxes of flat things. Records, she would guess. Underneath the steps rested vases and chargers and little statues. Leaning against the steps were paintings of differing sizes. Cumulated, it was all quite impressive.

But where was Rae?

Cautious exploration turned her up sitting cross-legged in one of the aisles, leafing through one of the books.

"Hello?" Willow noised, unsure if they were welcome.

Rae waved dismissively and went back to scanning the book.

"What is this place?" Serenity asked, overawed.

"This is," Rae noised, sounding distinctly distracted. "A Bradbury-Orwell's horde. Try not to touch anything. Or breathe. I really should have shut the door behind me."

"Why?" Willow asked. "Are you afraid we'll get grubby fingerprints all over everything?"

That was the impression Willow got from Rae—that she viewed them as children, and ill-behaved ones at that.

Rae surprised her by shaking her head. "This room is fireproof and climate-controlled—it has to be, to protect what's in here. Until I find a printing press or someone else in the sect, as far as I know, these are the only copies of these works."

"Oh wow," Serenity noised. "Willow—come look at this!"

Willow followed Serenity's voice to find her looking at one of the paintings—a shaggy horned beast looming out of the fog.

"_Chief_ by Robert Bateman," Rae observed from behind them. "Good eye." They turned to see her holding a book up, finger holding a place in it. "Found it."

* * *

"Seriously? You can make ice?"

"Is it magic?" Serenity asked.

"Sort of," Rae said, fishing out a bunch of metal bowls. "It's science."

"Wilson would approve," Willow said.

"Bully for him. And bully for us, if it works."

* * *

The rest of the day was spent running blocks of ice down to Yami, as Rae's "ice trick" was showing itself to be fruitful. By the end of the day, the girls were tired, and Yami was surrounded by ice.

"How's he doing?" Rae asked, thoroughly exhausted. She had run out of ammonia—which kept evaporating—and she needed more to continue the ice flow. Unfortunately, that required distilling the leavings from her chickens, which wasn't exactly a fast process. Tomorrow would be the soonest she could pull it off again.

Personally, she was grateful—inhaling ammonia, even with all the doors and windows open, wasn't exactly healthy. She felt lightheaded.

"Willow says he's acting better," Serenity reported.

Rae looked up, confused. Where _was_ Willow?

She forced herself up and down the steps of the springhouse. There she was, putting ice on Yami's back, between the wings. He did seem to be breathing easier, and his eyes were partially open.

"Is there any more?" Willow asked.

"Not until tomorrow," Rae said. "No wait—I think I read somewhere that you can make ice at night—I'd have to do some digging."

"You made ice?"

Rae jumped—that beast had _talked!_

"Yami!" Willow chimed, obviously happy that he was showing some energy. "Rae made this ice! Isn't it great?"

"How'd you do that?" Yami asked, eyes only for Rae.

She was getting uncomfortable from the continued attention, to be honest. "I read," she said finally. "You read enough, you learn all sorts of things."

"Can you teach me?"

Rae hedged. _Could _she?

"I guess it's worth a shot," she sighed finally.


	52. Mana

**Chapter 52, everyone! In which the writer profusely apologizes for missing the Saturday update—our Internet was out Saturday afternoon through to Sunday afternoon, and after that I had to make sure my assignment was in on time. Have an extra-long chapter to make up for it though, and hopefully it won't happen again.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes and probably. And a true pity—we need more "I survived" t-shirts around….That makes me feel I should recommend the song "Boris the Spider" by The Who—it seems appropriate. It was because you didn't run into Bakura….It's something I read somewhere when doing research for _Glint and the Pirates_—if you've ever read the _Shadow_ pulps, then Harry Vincent's escapades make perfect sense. :D I don't know—Peridot's my birthstone too, and I lost one of my Peridot rings in the backyard one day. I think it depends on whether you believe in good luck or bad luck. :\**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi decided that when he got out of here, he and Willow would have a great big laugh at this.

She would especially love this.

"I am _not_ wearing a dress," Yugi declared.

Because that's what they put on him—a dress with a belt, basically.

"Where are my regular clothes?" Yugi asked. "I want my pants back."

"Royals shall not wear Pale Skin rags," the head lady declared. "They have been burned. You should be glad you are wearing royal garb."

Yugi ignored the reprimand. "My Mom made me those! What gave you the right to burn my clothes!?"

"I can see you need a moment for the blessing to sink in," the head lady said, bowing as she backed out of the room.

Yugi couldn't help but let out an irritated growl—an exhalation of frustration that was varied in pitch as he stomped his feet and turned. It had been ages since he'd thrown a temper tantrum, and while he was out of practice, he intended to make this one doozy of a—

"_Yah!"_

There was some girl standing practically right behind him!

"Why do you people do this?" Yugi asked. "Do you _have_ to stand right behind me?"

"Huh," the girl said. "I thought you'd sound more like him, but you sound like a little kid."

Yugi blinked. "You can talk?"

"Of course! I'm not some _drudge!"_ she snatched his arm and dragged him along. "Come on! I know a way out of this room—we need to talk."

"Wait—what's going on?" Yugi asked, tripping over his now-slippered feet in his attempt to keep up. "Who are you? And why are you speaking plain English?"

"Not right now—come on!"

She pulled him into a corner and pressed a drawing in a long series of drawings etched into the wall.

A portion of the wall retracted, revealing a hidden passageway.

"Cool," Yugi noised. It was just like some of the stories Cecelia told!

"Come on," she said, dragging him through.

"Where are we going?" Yugi asked. "Are we escaping?"

"We're just getting away from those nosy guards," the girl said.

"Can we go the extra mile and get out of here completely?"

"You sure do talk like him."

"Talk like who?"

The girl looked nervous. "I'm not allowed to say."

"Why not?"

"We're not supposed to talk about the dead until the mourning period is passed—and it's the Crown King who decided when the mourning period ends. And since he hasn't declared it over yet…."

"What is it with all these rules? How do you people get anything done?"

"Rules are what separates us from the heathens," she said, hand motions and well-practiced tone indicating she was reciting something she had been forced to learn verbatim. "The rules given to the royals from on high are not to be questioned—to do so would mean death."

"That doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room, does it?"

"Not at all." She stopped in a small room with a torch set in the wall. "Okay, here's good. Now: tell me _everything."_

Oi—it was like the Frost King in reverse. Hey….

"How about I answer one of your questions if you'll answer one of mine?" he posed. _Please work please work please work—_

She made a face, then shrugged. "That works, I guess—so who are you?"

"I'm not a prince, if that's what you're getting at," Yugi said, grimacing. "My name is Yugi—Yugi Moutou. Now why does everyone think I'm a prince or something like that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because you _are_ the prince—or the brother prince at least. Your mother—her name is Hannah Moutou, right?"

"Yes…why?"

"Because she married the brother king Atem—you're their son. Do you know the final fate of your cousin?"

"I have a cousin?" Yugi asked blankly.

"I'm taking that as a no, then," she said, sagging.

"Wait a minute," Yugi said, clutching his head. "If Mom married a prince—that guy on the throne—does that make him my _uncle? I'm really related to that guy?"_

"Yes, it does."

"No. _Nonononono—_I do_ not_ want to be related to him—he's crazy!"

"Don't talk about the Crown King that way!"

"You have to help me," Yugi begged. "I can't _be_ here—I have things I have to do!"

"Like what?" the girl asked. "Where else could you possibly want to be?"

"I want to be home! With my family and my friends—sure, it's freezing there, but at least I didn't feel like I walked into a horror story! These people cut other people's tongues out! _You can't tell me that's normal!"_

The girl winced. "That's…not right, yes….But they've done it for years, so—"

"So if everyone jumps off a cliff, you do too, because it's tradition?"

"No, it's not like that!"

"So what is it like then?"

The girl fidgeted, reminding Yugi of something.

"I never did get your name," he said.

"Mana," she said, tugging on one of her sandy locks. "I'm apprenticed to Mahado."

"It's nice to meet you, Mana. Who's Mahado?"

"He's one of the adviziers—he uses the Millennium Ring to sense someone's intentions."

"Pretend for a minute that I didn't understand any of that."

She stared at him. "You know, you're really like him."

"Like who? Mahado?"

"Oh, great sands, _no_," she said, waving. "You're like the Crown Prince, may he find rest in the afterlife."

"You mean that guy we're not allowed to talk about?"

"Well, yes…."

"Well, can't you show me a picture or something? That isn't talking about him, is it?"

She tugged on her bangs again—Yugi figured that was a nervous tic for her, like Wilson rubbing the back of his neck. "I suppose," she said finally. "Come on."

As they wound through the maze, Yugi couldn't help but ask another question.

"What is all this?"

"This?" Mana asked, gesturing. "These are secret passages-slash-servants' passages, in case of invasion. It was built when the palace was built, and then promptly forgot about—at least until the Crown Prince rediscovered them. Ah, here we go."

They came out into a large hall. "Cool," Yugi noised.

She led him down the dim hall, pausing to nab a torch to light the gloom.

"Here," she said finally, stopping in front of a stretch of wall and holding the torch up. "That's the Crown Prince."

Yugi looked at the blocky art. "He kind of looks like me," he observed.

"You're related, _duh_."

He could certainly see it, especially if he went off of the hair. Same spiky hair, but with darker skin and a prouder bearing.

"Okay, I've shown you," Mana said. "Now we've got to hurry you back to your room before—"

_"Halt!"_ a guard bellowed.

"Never mind—_run!"_


	53. Fishing for Information

**Chapter 53, everybody! Which is technically uploaded on a Sunday, but it's Independence Day here in the States on top of me having a week off, so that's the reason. We'll be back to our reliable schedule next week, when I'm back to school and denied access to video games and TV Tropes (will ruin your life…).**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Because he's the main protagonist, that's why! And it could also be that his luck just sucks that bad. :| You might like it—but fair warning, it's a bit of an earworm. And yes, do all that stuff—specifically _Portal 2_ and _Don't Starve_. My goodness, get _Don't Starve_—especially if you like Tim Burton stuff (or if you've been particularly enjoying the characters of Wilson and Willow…). You never know….Yes, a true pity—he was watching you from a distance. 0-0 Yay!...You have absolutely no idea how surreal it is to "hear" someone refer to August as being a winter month—specifically when my birthday falls in the "dog days" of summer here. *~* Too true, too true…and cool! I wish I had a shell that color—it sounds pretty….But I do have an intact nautilus shell I got at the Outer Banks in North Carolina years ago, so there's that. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

They had successfully eluded the guard, and Mana had escorted Yugi back to his glorified prison cell and ducked back out just in time for some "entourage" to come gather him for some sort of "welcome back" feast.

It had been very awkward, to say the least.

Yugi hadn't eaten much—the whole place scared him, to be honest, and he wasn't sure if he trusted the food, anyway.

As such, he woke up the next morning with a gnawing in his stomach.

_Stop that,_ he scolded it. _You've gone for longer without eating._

Man, he missed Rae's. Why had it never occurred to him that _that_ food could have been poisoned? Because Wilson had okayed it? Or was it because Rae had been open about her hostility?

That was it—there was hostility here, but it was contained. Something was up. Something was _very_ much up.

But what?

_Always find more information,_ Wilson's voice came, unbidden. _The more you know, the more well-informed you'll be—and then you'll be able to make better decisions._

Well, the major decision was clear—get _out_ of here.

The big obstacle was just _how._

_I'll play along,_ Yugi decided, as a servant entered his room. _I'll play along for now, figure things out, play by ear—and keep an eye out for an opportunity to get out of here. It's got to come eventually._

Because the alternative was just too sickening to imagine.

* * *

Yugi herewith resolved that if he ever escaped, he would never complain about Wilson's lectures again.

Skirt-guy—Mahado—had a dry, intense delivery, like he was imparting the wisdom of the ancients upon Yugi. Wilson was always equally as intense, but it was a different sort—his was more _I can't believe you don't find this fascinating what's wrong with you?_

Worse, he implied heavily that he had a lot of work ahead to properly instruct Yugi in "the royal way"—and it sounded an awful lot like brainwashing.

But when Mahado showed a particular rune, Yugi was suddenly energetic.

"Hey, I've seen that before!" Yugi interrupted, pointing at the stylized eye Mahado had drawn on a piece of slate.

"Good—this is finally sinking in," Mahado noised. "This is the all-seeing eye, symbol of the royals, who likewise—"

"Only the royals?" Yugi interrupted—he really didn't need another spiel about how _wonderful_ these people were.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Shall I continue?"

"I guess," Yugi sighed, sinking back into his chair.

"Good. As the Millennium Items belong to the royals, they were embedded with the royals' symbol. There are seven Items of great power: The Eye, which sees into the minds of men—"

"What about women?"

"As equally. The Necklace, which foresees the future; the Scales, which measure a person's evil against their good; the Key, which opens a person's heart; the Rod, which subjugates others to the wielder's will—"

"What does subjugate mean?"

Yugi could tell he was wearing Mahado's nerves thin. "It means that one must bend to the will of another. Shall I continue?" Yugi nodded. "The Ring, which finds all that the wearer seeks; and the Puzzle, which embodies the Crown King's power."

"Okay," Yugi said, hitting on a different tactic. "What if, say, a magic monster had that eye? What then?"

"That would not be possible."

"Say that it is, maybe."

"Then it must belong to the royals."

"But what if it didn't?"

"Is there a reason this is pertinent?"

Yugi wasn't even going to _begin_ to explain Yami to this guy. "I'm…considering all options."

Mahado gave this some thought. "I suppose that is a good behavior to display—but please, remain in relevant terms."

Yugi resigned himself to more boring stuff, sensing that any further attempts to learn more about that eye would be met with difficulty.

"There are five parts to the soul," Mahado continued drily. "The _ba_, the _ka,_ _sheut…."_


	54. Putting Plans in Motion

**Chapter 54, everybody! In which we get the ball rolling….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, death by boredom is horrible. :\ And no, it couldn't. :D It's a start, at least….Maybe we _should_ make good on our desire to head south for the winter—February has to be the most miserable month here, as far as weather is concerned. It is pretty awesome—and missing, apparently. I just looked for it, and I can't seem to find it….In our house, that tends to mean that either someone stole it or the house ate it. :|**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Tonight was the night.

"This is the plan," Gazim declared, addressing a small contingency of thieves. "We set fire to a small portion of the city." He nodded at some of the thieves, who were carrying bundles of sticks and jars of oil. "That done, you others start ransacking a different part of the city. Those staying behind, evacuate everyone to a deeper portion of the canyon and seal off the exits—we don't want anyone finding this place."

"What do we do?" Joey asked.

"You two," Wilson interposed, before Gazim could respond. "Head back to Rae's and get everything ready. If all goes well, Yugi and I will be there by morning."

"And what if it doesn't?" Tristan asked.

"If it doesn't, then by noon you gather everyone up and begin heading back up the mountain. Head west first—it'll take you to Newport and a safer stretch of marsh."

"What about you?"

Wilson was sorely tempted to ask _what about me?_ "We should be right on your heels—you'll be departing an hour or so before we try to get Yugi. Noon is plenty of time to get there after you arrive. If we're _not_ there, then something _bad_ has happened, and you don't want to tarry within the royals' reach."

"So we'll still die of freezing. Yay," Joey noised.

"Not necessarily," Gazim said, indicating to the other thieves to finish preparing. "We'll get a contingency together to head for this 'Frostmore'—we may not be suited to cold weather, but we know where to find them now. We can get in and out quickly."

"No one's ever made it past the Pass," Tristan countered.

"You did."

"Yeah," Joey said. "But we had Ya—_ow! what was that for!?"_

Wilson had slapped him upside the head to keep him from mentioning the Frost King. "You two. Supplies. Road. Hit it. Now."

Joey and Tristan complied, scowling.

"Why do I feel as though they were about to spill the beans on something you did not want spilt?" Gazim asked.

"Because those two have remarkably large mouths," Wilson stated. "Now come on—we don't have much time."

* * *

"Teana!"

Teana looked up from her stitching to see Bakura skid to a halt in front of her.

"I've got to go," he declared. "The distraction is going now—and then I have to head for Newport afterwards because apparently that's where it's safest to cross the swamp—"

"Perfect," Teana declared, putting her stitching away and picking up two packs. "I'll meet you there."

"What? _No!_ You can't—"

"Yes I can," she said, leaning so they were close—he was a few inches taller than her, but he had a tendency to slouch recently, so his extra height was negated. "This whole thing involves us—all three of us. I need closure just as much as you do. And besides, you'll need the help."

Bakura looked remarkably frustrated.

She kissed him on the nose before he could formulate a good counter.

"For luck," she declared. "You'll need it."

And with that, she ran off before she could be herded back into the canyons, before the exits were sealed.

Before he could see her blush.

Ah, how much more complicated this would become if he truly were alive and they were the three musketeers once again.


	55. Night Meetings

**Chapter 55, everybody! In which Joey vents and the writer sees a need to write some more before the buffer runs out again….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, death by boredom seems to be a real danger here….Bleh. It's been dry for a few days here, knock on wood, but I feel that will be running out soon. My goodness, yes—we always go on vacation in the spring or fall to extend our summers; and yes, a trip to the beach isn't as costly as a trip to Disneyland (and infinitely more satisfying, in my opinion). Well that's comforting—and it makes me feel better than thinking the house ate it. *~* Should never have watched _Monster House…._**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi lay curled up in bed, one eye on the guards at the door.

Satisfied they weren't looking at him, he eased out of bed, positioning his blanket so it looked like he was still in bed.

Okay, that was done.

Now what?

Yugi scowled. The balcony had been a no-go, and the rest of the room was maddeningly claustrophobic—his only hope was to find that drawing Mana had used and use it to reach that warren within the walls.

And hope he could find his way back out.

That was the one annoying snag of his plan—the fact that he most likely would not be able to get back out of the maze once he was in it. It made him hesitate, it was such a horrible fate.

But so was staying. Something deep inside was telling him so.

So, with no small amount of trepidation, he headed for the corner to try and find his way out.

He nearly strangled himself when the wall opened upon nearing it.

"Oh," Mana muttered. "That's convenient."

* * *

"I can't believe he sent us off like this. What does he think we are, incompetent?"

Joey had been fuming the whole time they left, and now, on the streets, it had devolved into a barely controlled hiss.

"You could answer me," Joey snapped at Tristan. Then, when Tristan took a turning: "Hey, where are you going? The palace is _that_ way."

"I know," Tristan said. "I'm heading back to Rae's."

"What? And leave Yugi here?"

"Wilson's getting him, remember?"

"And you think we should trust him?"

"Yes, for now," Tristan argued. "Think about it—if we had listened to him to begin with, where would Yugi be?"

Joey was silent.

"That's right," Tristan continued. "Yugi would be at Rae's—fretting his brains out over the Frost King, but he'd be where we could see him."

"We didn't listen to Wilson because he wouldn't tell us anything," Joey countered.

"Because we didn't listen beforehand. And now Yugi might be dead because of it."

Joey felt winded. Tristan had actually _said_ it, the one thing they had been dreading—that Yugi was dead. He hadn't even said it when Yugi was lost in the snow.

But then again, the monsters around Frostmore were mostly concerned with eating people.

"So we're supposed to do nothing?" Joey forced out. "Give me one good reason why we shouldn't at least _try_—"

"Serenity's a good reason," Tristan said quietly.

Joey fell silent at that.

Tristan tapped his arm and eased him along. "I know—I'm feeling the same way," he consoled. "I feel like all brands of jerk not to be up there fishing Yugi out. But think of it this way—they'll need a getaway, right?"

Right…."It'd be easier if Yami could move."

"Yeah…I wonder how he thinks were going to move him."

"And why didn't he want us talkin' about him in there?"

"No idea. Now come on—we've got to get a move on."

"Actually, _you_ hold on," Joey said, pausing to pick up a tool someone had left out.

"What are you doing?" Tristan demanded. "You can't be _stealing_—"

_"Au contraire,_ my good friend," Joey said, a sort of savage grin on his face made worse by the dark. "I overheard those thieves mention this, and the reasoning's sound—besides, these guys tried to kill us; they owe us."

Tristan sighed and shook his head.

It didn't stop him from snitching a few items as well on their way out.


	56. Wall-Crawling

**Chapter 56, everybody! In which breaking in and breaking out occurs….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! I _know!_ There's why the weather's been weird. Of course—that beach has been brought to you by sand! It's everywhere! Get used to it! :D Although at least beach sand doesn't do as much of a number on your socks (I don't think). That happens in our house too—it really freaks us out on occasion. *~* Probably the best example was the TV in the other room turning on when no one was in there—I think this place is part of the Twilight Zone….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"What do you mean, 'this is convenient'?" Yugi managed to gasp, once his heart rate returned to normal.

"You strangling yourself," Mana explained. "It saved me the trouble."

_"What?"_

"Not so _loud!_ Now come on—we're getting you out of here."

"And where to?" Yugi asked suspiciously.

"Out of the palace," Mana explained simply. "I'll explain the details on the way. Oh—these are yours."

And she handed him his clothes.

"I managed to snitch them before they were burned," she explained, looking reticent. "I…er…I told the drudge I had an incineration spell I wanted to try, and since they were going to be burned anyway, and I'd take them to the burn pit if the spell didn't work, so don't worry about it…."

Yugi sensed she was seeking solace for what she perceived was a bad action. "Well, it's not like whoever is going to _tell_ anyone," he said, the joke falling flat even to him.

Mana shook her head. "Some of the Items can read a person's mind. Now come on—before I talk myself out of this."

* * *

Bakura made very carefully sure to be on the opposite side of the palace from where his father and Wilson were going to be. He didn't need to be caught by his father and grounded for life—that would be even worse than being caught by the guards.

The walls of the palace were tall and smooth—so much so that crawling up them was impossible. So was digging under. His father and Wilson's plan was to slip through the main gate when the guards came out.

Bakura's plan was much more straightforward, and infinitely more dangerous.

The stones that formed the walls and the palace were mined from the canyons in which Kul Elna resided. As a matter of fact, a section of Kul Elna had been formed by that very quarry. That meant that the stonecutting tools they used in Kul Elna would be just as effective on these walls.

Of course, he wasn't about to tunnel _through_—that would take too long.

Instead, he fished the two spikes out, gripped them firmly by the handles, and drove them into the wall.

They went in smoothly and quickly.

That done he pulled one spike out and drove it in as high as he could reach. Next, he pulled the other spike out and tightened his other arm, testing his weight. When he was satisfied the spike would hold, he drove the other spike into the wall, loosened the other one, and set to the arduous task of scaling the wall.

This was going to be a major pain, he decided.

He was about halfway up—an endeavor that had taken him over an hour, he was sure—when he heard guards circling above.

He froze where he was, clinging to the wall. Now that he wasn't moving, his arms were really beginning to burn from the strain. And was it just his imagination, or did gravity seem to be getting stronger?

He couldn't let go—he'd slide down at best and let out a cry upon landing that would alert the guards on the wall. At worst, he'd break both his legs upon impact and let out a cry that would alert the guards on the wall.

To make matters worse, he heard movement below him. He spared a glance down to see a pair of guards making a circuit around the wall. Great. What else could go—

The spikes began to slide out of the crumbling wall.


	57. Killer Sneaking

**Chapter 57, everybody! In which Yugi and others are on their way and we have a brief_ Ew!_ moment….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes it is! Finally! :D True, true, very true….But now you own a bit of beachfront property. :) Probably….I think my grandparents haunt our house, personally—although the bathroom door hasn't done the shut-itself thing for a while….I think because we close the house up during the summer now that we have AC.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The guards took the bait and stormed out of the palace gates.

Gazim and Wilson, dressed, in sandy cloaks, slipped in during the confusion.

"The royals will be keeping Yugi in the princely quarters, I imagine," Wilson said, once they were in.

"No," Gazim corrected. "They've had those sealed off ever since the princes were thought dead—there will be guest quarters—quick, the maze—"

Gazim slammed to a halt, both verbally and physically, so sudden that Wilson ran smack into him.

Any question as to why he stopped was answered by looking beyond him to the men clad in black, cowls fastened by sickly green gems.

"Oh good," Wilson muttered. "They're early."

"You remember how to get into the maze, yes?" Gazim asked quietly.

"Yes…."

Gazim drew his sword, a wicked-looking scimitar that paled in comparison to the assassins' glowing green knives.

"Go now," Gazim declared. "I will take care of these jackals."

"Forgive me if I don't have faith in your abilities," Wilson declared, readying a spear.

"Don't be foolish—or are you going to make the mistake of thinking these are the only ones?"

Good point. "Be careful."

"Same to you," Gazim declared, before running forward with a ferocious yell.

One of the assassins tumbled to the side, dodging him as the other met him, and ran straight for Wilson.

Wilson used his momentum against him.

He was already running for the maze's exterior entrance, gone before the assassin's impaled body hit the ground.

* * *

Bakura thanked everything he could possibly think of for his safe arrival to the top of the wall and the timely distraction of the guards. He lay on the walkway, focused on getting his breathing back to normal.

Now to get to the treasure room.

He ran for the stairs, grateful that everyone was suitably distracted by the thieves in town. Now here was hoping they wouldn't think to guard the treasure room.

He maneuvered through the palace, relying on a dusty memory to find his way through the warren. There was a distressing lack of cover in here—if he was caught, he'd have to run and hope he remembered his way out.

He made the final corner—

And ducked back with a curse.

Great. They had thought to guard the treasure room.

_So much for getting in and out quietly,_ he reflected, reaching into an inside pocket.

* * *

"So about those details…."

"Right," Mana noised, holding a torch aloft as they wandered through the maze—she didn't seem too keen on speaking, and hadn't since Yugi had changed back into his normal clothes (with orders that she not look—_yeek_). But Yugi had to know.

She swallowed hard before continuing. "The…uh…well, I was bored, see—Mahado was busy with you, and no one else was bothering with me—"

"Sorry," Yugi said, feeling that he needed to apologize.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, I was going through the maze, exploring, because the alternative was practicing this big huge list that Mahado had given me—"

"Ick."

"I know, right? Anyway, I found a portion that sloped down, so I followed it. It just kept going, round and round and round….And when I found the exit, I was in the dungeons."

"This place has _dungeons?"_

Mana nodded—add yet another reason to leave as fast as he could.

"Anyway," Mana continued, waving her free hand. "I didn't want to stay down there—I mean, who would? And I was sliding the door shut again when I heard someone talking.

"Well, I didn't want to get caught, so I froze—I figured they'd hear the stone grinding," she explained. "And….And I hear…."

Yugi waited with baited breath.

She took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "Advizier Akenhadin….He was talking about killing you."


	58. A-Maze-Ing Conversation

**Chapter 58, everybody! In which it is made evident that Yugi is fully aware of how cute he is….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes! _Da-da-DAAAAA!_ (kinda picturing that sloth-thing from _The Croods_ there). Ah yes—lots of shells and sand….It all tends to end up outside here, where my chickens subsequently make use of it. It must be a thing—we normally tell Grandma off if something odd happens here (although apparently a guy died on our property before Mom moved in). Welcome to the _Twilight Zone!_ Population: you. And the rest of us, although we don't realize it….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

It took Yugi a few moments for this information to register.

"Why does he want to kill me?" he asked finally. "I thought I was a pretty likable person—I mean, I've even been told I was cute!"

"Cute doesn't cure you from hate," Mana explained. "And…he did, he really sounded like he hated you."

"But _why?"_

"I think because with you here, you were next in line to the throne," Mana said slowly, thinking. "With you gone, Advizier Akenhadin is."

"He can have it—I don't want to run this loony bin."

"I don't think he'd be an improvement. I…you…have you…felt something…_odd_ around him?"

"Like I need to take a very long bath with bleach and brillo pads after he looks at me?"

"_Huh?"_

"It's something my Mom says," Yugi explained. Man, he missed her—even if she did provide some interesting non-sequiturs.

Mana shook her head slightly before continuing. "Anyway…I…think perhaps he came under an evil influence a while back—or maybe he was always evil; it's hard to tell.

"But what I heard was him plotting to have you killed—he was talking to someone," she said, frowning. "I don't know who—I didn't see. But I _did_ see an odd green light—it wasn't natural."

Yugi tried to think of what could have possibly caused that light. Nothing came readily to mind—Wilson might know. Ugh—he even missed Wilson. He did not, however, miss the lecture he was sure to get.

Mana surprised him by speaking again—he had thought she was done, by the deep silence she had sunk into.

"I…I knew then I had to help you," she said. "No one would believe me if I accused Advizier Akenhadin. I had to help you get away."

"Thank you," Yugi said, touching her arm.

She offered a little smile. "You're welcome," she said. "Now if only I didn't feel like throwing up, I'd be fine."

"You could come with me, you know."

She shook her head. "No…this is my home—I can't leave it. And besides, Mahado probably has a tracking spell on me or something like that."

"You should come," Yugi said. "You could…well, think of it as an adventure!"

She laughed suddenly. "You sounded just like him right then!"

"Who?"

"The Crown Prince. He'd always say that right before dragging me and his other friends into the next big sticky mess." She sobered. "He always treated me like his little sister. I miss him."

"He sounds like he was a lot of fun—in the grounded-for-life sense."

"We never got buried up to our necks, thank goodness."

"That's not what grounded means."

"It does here." She paused at a fork, looked left and right, before deciding on the right turning.

"At least give it some thought," Yugi persisted. "Being here can't be good for you—they might cut out your tongue or something!"

She shook her head and held up a simple pendant on a chain. "I've got mind insurance," she explained. "They couldn't touch me anyway—I'm Mahado's apprentice; I have connections. And besides," she added as they reached a dead end. "I can do more here for you—I'm almost positive I can keep them running around in circles for a few days."

"Almost positive?" Yugi asked as she felt up and down the wall.

"I can say you hid and had me help," she explained. "And forbade me from telling. I can use the pendant too—say you gave it to me to ensure my silence. All I have to do is say you're somewhere in the palace."

Yugi nodded. "Okay…I guess that works."

"Yeah. Be ready to run when I open this, by the way."

"Right. One more thing before I go, though."

And with that, he hugged her.

She seemed surprised when he let go—he worried that she had never had that sort of display of affection before.

"Thank you," he said, with all the heartfelt gratitude he could muster.

She blushed and ducked her head. "Y-you're welcome. Uh…royals and servants aren't supposed to touch, by the way."

"You've touched me before," Yugi pointed out.

"Yeah…small steering is allowed, but not…."

"Mana," Yugi said. "Just accept the hug—as a friend."

She smiled, nervously at first, but more honest as it sank in. "Sure. Okay…."

"And you shouldn't worry about hugging me anyway," Yugi pointed out, grinning. "I'm a filthy Pale Skin, remember?"

She laughed. "No, you're my friend," she corrected, tilting her head at him. "You really are like him."

"Can't you tell me his name?"

"No—sorry."

"Hey, you're helping me escape—you might as well."

"Sorry—only one sin for me today, thanks," she said, pressing her hand against a section of wall. "So long, Yugi—send me something to let me know you're all right."

Yugi nodded, stepping towards the wall as it slid open—

He and she shared a gasp at the cloaked figure in front of them.


	59. Failure

**Chapter 59, everybody! In which we see what happened to our intrepid maze runners….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Haha, let me guess: "Oh *bleep*." :D On the plus side, it means I delivered an appropriate cliffhanger. :) Weirdly enough, that was on the TV the other night—missed it though (bummer…). Yeah—at least the chickens stay outside for the most part (now if only they wouldn't visit the neighbors…). Go with the cat. And dear me, yes you are—****_The Twilight Zone_**** was an early-sixties sci-fi anthology that could certainly deliver the creeps, especially with Rod Sterling narrating. You can catch reruns on the Syfy channel occasionally, although YouTube would be your best bet for looking it up (unless you have Hulu or Netflix—I don't, personally, so I recommend YouTube. Or you could check it out on TV Tropes). I do ****_not_**** recommend it if you scare easy, however—it has a certain level of fridge horror. Although I probably say this due to my first experience with the ****_Twilight Zone_**** being the Tower of Terror at Disneyland when I was five—I was perfectly fine right up until we reached the point of no return and Rod Sterling started narrating. So done. *~***

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi recovered first.

_"Wilson!?"_ he squawked, not quite comprehending the figure in front of him—but there was no mistaking that spiky hair, or the long face with an irritated look that matched his stance.

"I suppose this saves me the trouble of having to go and get you," Wilson declared, before sparing Mana an aggravated glance. "Get that out of my face."

Mana had stepped between him and Yugi, torch thrust in front of them. "Make me," she snarled.

Wilson shook his head and stepped into the passage, out of the line of sight of anyone outside. Yugi tugged Mana's arm as he did so.

"It's okay, Mana," he explained. "Wilson is….What are you even doing here?" he asked.

"Cheers," Wilson said, arching an eyebrow. "I've come to get _you_—unless I've missed my guess and you _enjoy_ having your life threatened."

"No," Yugi admitted, looking at the odd cloak Wilson was wearing. "What's that dark stuff?"

Wilson looked at his cloak front and touched it, as though just now noticing its appearance. "It's…nothing of concern," he said. "But we can't stay here—I wouldn't be surprised if the guards were looking for you already."

Yugi looked to Mana, who glanced at Wilson.

"I can go do my distracting thing," she said. "Will you be all right?"

Yugi glanced at Wilson too before looking back to Mana.

"Yeah," he said. "He's cool."

He wasn't entirely sure if he was lying or not, but Wilson had had a very good point—they had to get out of here.

Mana hugged Yugi.

"Good luck," she whispered in his ear.

And with that, she was off down the corridor.

"Come on," Wilson said, steering him away from the fresh blackness and out into the open air. "We have to leave."

He paused a moment to hit the panel that shut the hole in the wall before running, Yugi in tow.

"Short legs!" Yugi protested as they fled. "Wilson! Short legs! _I have short legs!"_

* * *

Mahado and Advizier Akenhadin made their way to Brother Prince Yugi's room with a contingent of guards in tow. With the mayhem occurring, they needed to make sure the heir to the throne was safe and secure.

Mahado could not control the cry of anguish he elicited upon arrival.

Assassins were stabbing a mound in the bed.

The guards rushed forward, attacking the assassins, as Mahado ran towards the bed. The murderers were subdued as he ripped the bedsheet away, dreading what he would see—

A flurry of feathers followed the sheet.

He blinked, uncomprehending.

And then it registered.

The mound had been nothing more than a pillow, tucked beneath the sheet so to give the impression someone was sleeping in it.

He looked to Akenhadin, confused, who scowled at the guards, standing over the assassins.

"You _failed_," he snarled.

For a moment, Mahado could not help but wonder to whom that statement was directed to.


	60. The Millennium Ring

**Chapter 60, everybody! In which Bakura gets shinies….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, just Wilson—at least it made a good fake-out. :) Ah…foreign languages are the best ones to learn curse words in….And now I know two Dutch words, so that's cool. :) Yes, we have a fence—it does _nothing_. Absolutely _nothing._ It doesn't even keep the _dog_ in. And chickens may not be able to fly well, but they can do well enough to get over it—and those that don't fly over squeeze through. We've tried chicken wire, but that doesn't do much either—I feel like I've got the birds from _Chicken Run…._Well, being from a previous generation doesn't mean that much when reruns exist—that's how I caught the show (I'm actually not that much older than you). The pacing in older shows was much slower, yes, but sometimes the major _wham_ at the end is worth it. Ah, generation gaps…on the positive side, when you like older stuff, older people will think you're cooler. ;) Yeah—the show's horror moment depends very much on the horror you yourself perceive; it's definitely not a gory show (at least, the original isn't). Yes, why doesn't that sort of thing work when you're studying?...To answer your question: one, because it didn't look so bad on the outside, and two, it was _Disneyland_—you don't expect a super-scary ride at Disneyland (although to be fair, Mom did try to talk me out of it the whole way—but it had a short wait time, so I insisted, idiot kid that I was). Yes, review, why don't you italicize? And yes—you're getting to be the Evel Knievel of reviews. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The smoke bomb had done its job and knocked the guards out. He had five minutes.

Even at that, Bakura couldn't help but take a moment to drool over the sheer amount of _gold_ in the treasure room.

He ran to the first pile, skidded to a halt with the intention of burying his hands in the coins—

Something tapped lightly against his chest.

He glanced down, saw Teana's gift—

_To keep you focused._

Right, right.

He quickly made his way through the treasure room, scanning left and right, looking for _one thing_ in particular—

_There_.

The Millennium Ring.

It was the stuff of legend—every thief from here to the other side of the globe wanted to get their hands on it. It was the ultimate dowsing rod, if the stories were true.

It was also cursed, if the stories were true.

_I can handle a little cursing,_ he thought, trying to make a joke out of it and ignore how sweaty his palms had gotten. It was a bunch of flak—it _had_ to be. Just a bunch of silliness that the royals had promoted in order to keep the most powerful magical items known to man to themselves—_just take it already!_

He leapt forward and snatched it by the string, ripping it off of the hook it sat against.

The room did not instantly crash in upon itself. He did not instantly break out in boils. He did not instantly drop dead.

He did, however, breathe a sigh of relief.

"Okay," he noised, carefully putting the Millennium Ring on—it nestled against his chest right under Teana's pendant. "Now," he said, feeling a tad silly for addressing an inanimate object but needing to calm his nerves. "You're going to help me find a few very important things—then, I don't know, I wouldn't want to come back here if I were you."

It felt warm against his chest.

_Oh please don't be the precursor to having my insides boiled_, he begged silently as he made his way back out of the treasure room.

He nearly stumbled at the sudden impression he had gotten—a snow-topped mountain range.

He frowned down at the Ring, hanging on the end of its string all innocent-like.

"First, I already knew _that_," he snarled. "Second—save the flashes of insight for _after_ I get out of here!"

No dice—another impression—

This one of guards heading for the treasure room.

"Great," he muttered. "I need another way out—_fast_."

Another impression—

And a warm feeling.

He looked down to see one of the spikes on the Millennium Ring glowing and pointing towards the near wall.

He held it up, confused—the spike remained resolute. He turned—now the bottom spike was pointing.

"Okay," he noised, heading for the wall. More spikes were pointing—

And then they deviated slightly, indicating a hieroglyph on the wall. He was seized by the urge to press it.

He did so, figuring that the urge came from the Ring. Although why it wanted him to press some random—

The wall slid open.

"Woah," he noised, before looking down at the Ring.

"Nice," he whistled appreciatively, stepping into the hidden corridor and pressing a panel the Ring indicated. The wall slid closed. "_Very _nice—you can stay with _me."_

The Ring glowed, illuminating the corridor. Its spikes were pointing straight ahead.

Bakura followed, certain that the Ring would show him the way.


	61. Confrontation in the Desert

**Chapter 61, everybody! In which Yugi yells at Wilson…and we also get a callback to _Chaos Avatar Desertion._...**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Oh yes, he does. :D Ah, so they eloped? (you'll be getting cynical inspiration later…or perhaps inspired sarcasm). Me neither, but at least it expands my foreign word database somewhat (my known foreign words are mostly either Spanish or inappropriate). It ****_is_**** pathetic—really, its only use is to mark the property line. The dog got out ****_again_**** today—but at least he and the birds come home at night (with the possible exception of one or two chickens—I think the guineas give them cement booties and throw them in the neighbor's pond). And ****_that_****—is the precise reason I spend most of my time on my computer. Ah….Yeah, the Wikipedia summary was enough for me (and then DeviantArt gets flooded with FNaF stuff—****_why!?_****). Well then, add ****_Bioshock_**** and the "Screecher" mod from ****_Don't Starve_**** to your list of things to avoid or regret—the former's TV Trope page was enough for me, while the latter….I watched five minutes of a walkthrough video (right up to the Screecher's appearance), turned the video off, read the synopsis, and ceased to sleep for the rest of the month. The fact that our property backs up into deep woods ****_does not help_****. D: Yes, my brain had not finished forming…it still hasn't, come to think of it….Erm, if you haven't visited Disneyland yet, then you might be disappointed when you finally go—I went back a few years ago, and discovered that it is a place best enjoyed when you are under a certain height. And yes, you're actually fairly early for this one! Yay! :D Unlike myself….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"Okay, I think there needs to be some explaining here."

They were in the desert now, Wilson dragging his cloak to erase their steps in the sand. He needn't have bothered, what with the light breeze erasing them. But it gave him more peace of mind.

And of course, Yugi was bursting with questions and barely controlled suspicion.

"And what makes you think that?" Wilson hedged.

Yugi stopped completely.

"We shouldn't have followed you—I admit that," Yugi said. "But we did it because you wouldn't tell us anything."

"To be fair, you didn't listen when I _did_ try to tell you something," Wilson pointed out.

"That was because you were using big words on us—_this_—" and here he gestured behind them. "This could have been summarized with 'there's people there who'll try to kill you on sight.'"

"I _tried_ to tell you that," Wilson stressed—how could he get this through to him? "I know—"

_"And that's the problem!"_ Yugi screamed; Wilson could practically hear something break within him. "_There's people there who cut out tongues and stuff people in prison and bathe each other and you KNEW!"_

Wilson waited until Yugi's breath became less labored.

"Do you feel better?" he asked.

"No," Yugi sniffled.

"Here," he said, pulling out his hanky and offering it. "Blow."

Yugi did so.

"Yes, I knew," Wilson admitted. "I knew because I lived through it."

"How?" Yugi asked, still sounding stuffed up. "I didn't think you've ever been off the mountain until we left."

"You wouldn't remember—you were too young at the time—but Frostmore is a first-generation settlement that wasn't supposed to be so."

"What do you mean?"

Ugh. Did he really want to go into this? "It's a long story…."

"We've got time."

Wilson looked ahead, to the desert lit by the full moon—a whole night and day's worth of travel.

"I suppose you're right," Wilson admitted.


	62. Wilson's Story, Part I: Grapes of Wrath

**Chapter 62, everyone! In which explaining begins…I can't wait to get back to school Tuesday—I tend to slack off in the week that I'm off. ^^;**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, 'tis true…hopefully it comes off properly. Aha, don't worry about it. ;) Yes, I had heard about that, actually—from ****_Shonen Jump_****, of all sources. They had this "Kanji of the month" thing on each title they featured, and in one they mentioned that the closest the Japanese had to a native swear word was "kozo" (brat). I don't understand it….True, but I think that's a cat thing. True…I nostalgia so ****_hard_**** thinking of the shows I used to watch…the whole Saturday morning, no breaks (but at least we have ****_Ultimate Spider-Man _****to help ease the pangs). Yeah, "recommended for you" doesn't seem to work properly—and heaven forbid you click on a wrong link. *~* I know, I can't get away from it. Well, I tell you this so you can avoid it properly—although Screechers I had to mention because they get mentions in some of my stories (but don't worry, the Chaos will protect you). If you ****_must_**** look up ****_Bioshock_****, I recommend you search for a Let's Play where the guy right at the beginning says he's not good with scary stuff—that first jump-scare would have killed me if it weren't for the fact I was too busy laughing at his girly scream. XD Yes, go to Universal instead—they have Harry Potter. :D Good for you! You beat me this time….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**_The Grapes of Wrath _****© 1939 John Steinbeck**

Wilson had been five when the Exodus happened.

The country he had originally hailed from—that all the Pale Skins had hailed from—was a huge country, focused entirely on advancing themselves and improving their lives.

Some said they went too far.

Thinking back on it, the reports on what had really happened were hazy at best—some said disease, others said monsters…both, perhaps, were right in their own way.

Whatever the reason, they couldn't stay. To stay would be death.

So, they had done what they had never done before: focus their energies and technology on travelling away from the country that no one had ever dreamed of abandoning.

Making the ships that would take them away was a herculean effort in and of itself—the beasts that menaced their land loved to cause chaos. What they built in a day, the beasts tore down in a night. Metal had bites taken out of it, tools went missing completely—the attempts at wooden ships had claw marks where the beasts had used them as scratching posts.

What was the worst of all, however, was the rumor that these things used to be human.

Wilson's family were fleeing across the land to the eastern coast, trying to make it before the ships launched—they couldn't stay; they weren't suited to the level of roughing it that their world had been reduced to.

Wilson vowed then and there that he'd always be able to adapt—he'd learn how to live off the land and be a gentleman besides. It could be done—he was sure of it.

Wilson had been in charge of carrying a small backpack containing their greatest treasures—books. They had been salvaged as they trekked cross-country, and were to be used to buy passage—provided they met up with a Bradbury-Orwell rather than an Administrator.

The Bradbury-Orwells—charged, his father had told him, with the monumental task of remembering their history and preserving their culture. It was a thankless job, and more than one had become a martyr in their line of duty.

Reading the books that had survived the purges of previous years, Wilson reflected it might have been a job worth dying for.

He couldn't help but draw a correlation between their own actions and the actions of one book they had—except they were heading east instead of west. To escape, rather than opportunity, fleeing monsters instead of dust and starvation.

It had been fun at first—a new game for a child to play. But as it went on, Wilson began to realize what a horror they were going through—

Something that was driven home by one of those monsters flailing out of a tent in a camp they had joined—something they didn't do again. Travelling on their own was preferable to that sort of nasty surprise.

But they had made it, finally—they were on the east coast, there were the ships, and the myriad steel skeletons with shards of glass poking out. Buildings, his father had explained, which had been gutted to expose the beams and thus distract the beasts.

And now they were in the press of people trying to make it through some sort of screening process—Wilson decided he hated crowds, after being forced into one after months of only himself and his parents—too much noise, with intermittent sharp _bangs_—

And then he was pulled one way, his parents pulled another….

The screening process wasn't pleasant—blood drawn, teeth examined, every square inch examined, nearly—

But he was waved through.

He reached the gangplank, a huge metal sheet leading into the bowels of one of the sailing ships, and turned, trying to find his parents in the crush. They should have been here by now….

"Are you the Higgsbury kid?"

Wilson looked up at the man looking down at him. "Yes?" he said warily.

"Come on, then," he said, scooping Wilson up and heading up the gangplank before Wilson could protest. "Let's get you on board."

"Hey, wait! What about my mom and dad? They should be here soon!"

And then, suddenly, two more of those sharp _bangs_.

"That was your mom and dad," the man said soberly.

The only ones allowed on the ships, Wilson found out later, were those whose blood did not show that monster disease.


	63. Wilson's Story, Part II: Exodus

**Chapter 63, everyone! We're moving along at a right clip now—now if only I can get back to my usual schedule….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, poor Wilson…things get somewhat better for him, though (considering he actually lives to see adulthood). Oh yeah—our marketing teacher told us once about this guy who memorized all these shows of respect for the Japanese businessman he was meeting, and then flubbed up because he put the business card in his back pocket. And I hear that showing your teeth is considered rude, too (so I suppose my Chaos Creatures are extremely so). I don't know what a sane cat looks like…although one of the ones we have right now is actually friendly, so…but that may have been because we saved its life. Baah, tell him he needs to get into some good toons (I recommend ****_Beetlejuice, Freakazoid,_**** and ****_Animaniacs,_**** depending on taste—actually, pretty much any cartoon made from the eighties through to 2008 probably deserves a look-see). Yeah….I can't look on TV Tropes anymore, apparently (that's why this update is on a Sunday instead of a Saturday). But if we ever face off against evil AI, all we have to do is direct them to the website—it will either crash them or make them dangerously genre-savvy. Yeah—remember that old e-mail that circulated around for a while, the one where you had to look ****_real_**** close at a room only to have a screaming lady pop up on screen? It's kind of like that. *~* Ooh, enjoy your trip! ^^/**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

It was a while after the ships had set out that it happened.

One day, the Administrators all vanished off of the ship Wilson was on.

It was the coup that had been nothing but mutterings before—it had happened, and it was the Bradbury-Orwells that were in charge now.

The first thing they did was take down the Administrators' symbol. Wherever it was, it was removed, scrubbed out, or even painted over. Their flag was taken down and tossed to sea.

In its place flew what the Bradbury-Orwells said was their country's original flag, the one they had flown long before Administration had taken over, one that typified freedom and liberty and soul.

Three bright colors flashing in the sun—stars and stripes adorning it. So much simpler than the Administrators' flag.

Wilson loved it immediately.

As the Bradbury-Orwells taught the old anthem, Wilson couldn't help but struggle to describe his feelings—they were of being something larger than oneself, of freedoms beyond simple escape….They were simply beyond his capability to describe.

But whatever it was that that flag symbolized, he felt with his entire being that he was to be it.

* * *

With the Bradbury-Orwells in charge, things were mightily different.

No more idling around, fretting that the ship would fall apart at any second—no: anyone who knew anything was tasked to teach that something to someone else. People were employed, others were taught—and the multitude of books that the Bradbury-Orwells had smuggled aboard were now made public.

There were only a handful of Bradbury-Orwells to the thousands crammed onto the ship like sardines—but these few had made sure they were in positions of power. They had sent out the call for refugees, as ordered—but they had included a message that only those with some book-learning would have gotten.

Bring books. Bring art. Bring life committed to unlife.

If you do, there will be a place for you.

It was why, Wilson realized, he had been made to carry the books.

It was the sort of thing that was easier to articulate years later, after reading all of the books in their "library" and being tasked to reading them to those younger than he because of his good diction. The books were life, frozen into words.

But there were times, at night, that he remembered that selection process, and wondered what would have happened if he had had bad blood.

It was horrifying to picture.

It was worse because his parents had never shown any signs of being infected.

* * *

Shortly after the coup, the ship's designation had been changed from ARS—Administrator-Regulated-Ship, although some half-wits tended to add an _E_ at the end—to a different designation.

Wilson had inquired after it to the radio man, Mr. Burnshigh, who had explained that that particular designation had been used by the country their country had been, and the country they would be once again.

Mr. Burnshigh was a Bradbury-Orwell as well.

And as such, he felt it his duty to teach.

So whenever Wilson ducked into the radio room—which became quite a bit—he'd show the young preteen how the radio worked, how electricity worked, how anything requiring wires and transmission worked.

It was _glorious_.

What was not was the list of ships.

Some, like their own, would wire in with the new designation. Whenever that happened, a massive celebration occurred, with some extra splurging on the fish they had obtained that day.

Others simply ceased to report in.

The ships had been sabotaged from the moment construction was started—everyone knew this. Everyone was aware that they were on a floating—or in some unfortunate cases, flying—time bomb.

Even so, it was sobering when it happened.

Moments of silence were taken, a freshly resurrected tradition of sermons and prayer were observed—and everyone silently prayed that their ship wasn't the next to go.

But the longer they went without sighting land, the more likely this was to become.

And everyone knew it.


	64. Wilson's Story, Part III: Land Ho

**Chapter 64, everybody! In which we get a bit of insight into what might be Rae's backstory….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Well, yes—I tried to make it a tad vague, but I'm American, so the flag ends up looking like that (I regret nothing!). Yes—thus why he doesn't really smile in the present and insists that people listen to him. Ah, so you're both flying blind, technically….I guess they don't read ****_One Piece_**** either….Of course. I don't know why, but when I read that, all I could think of was when I used to watch ****_Courage the Cowardly Dog_****—it drove Dad nuts (of all things, one of the reasons was because the dog had holes in his teeth). I think he might grow out of it, though. I…think I overloaded it actually—and perhaps I should invest in that AdBlock thing I keep hearing about….*cough* Uh, yeah—it circulated in the late nineties early 2000s (I feel old! T-T).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson was in the Head Administrator's room—now designated as the ship's library—dutifully copying down a book to try to meet the demand of the ship, when Mr. Burnshigh ran in.

"Wilson," he gasped, out of breath, before managing to get another word out.

"Land."

Wilson hardly remembered the frantic dash to the fore deck, the jockeying for a position with a view—

All he remembered was the first time they saw _land_.

It was flat and vaguely arid where they touched ground, with a swamp to the north and mountains beyond. To the south was desert, dry and barren.

Through some miracle, they had arrived at the sweet spot where the twain met, that glorious location that could support life with little effort.

He barely remembered the next few years—it was busy, busy, busy: gutting the ship, building buildings, farming land, fishing, catching the local avians to raise and eat—but that first day, when all the pomp and circumstance was, and the anniversary of that day a year later, were highlights.

Mr. Burnshigh was kept busy radioing the other ships that first week, alerting them to the fact that land was near, that there was something at the end of that endless ocean. Those with more northern longitudes were warned of the swamp and mountains, while those to the south were told of the vast arid desert.

But more and more were touching land, they were thriving, _they were going to make it_—

So of course, something had to go wrong.

* * *

The first warning of such an issue arrived one crisp day.

Chariots rumbled up the neatly cobbled streets of Newport, its inhabitants demanding what they thought they were doing, building an unauthorized town on the Crown King's land.

Wilson figured they must have hailed from farther south, due to their tanner skins. It made sense—there was less cover further south, where here at least there were pine trees and birchnuts growing everywhere.

The lead Bradbury-Orwell stepped forward to address the chariot riders and explain their situation.

Somehow, Wilson knew they were in trouble the minute he saw the tanned men recoiled at the sight of much paler people.

The lead Bradbury-Orwell suggested that perhaps the tanned men escort a small contingent to explain things further to their superiors—that they had no idea this land was occupied, that they really could not land anywhere else due to their shoddy ships, and that they were more than happy to acquiesce to their new neighbors, if they were sensible about it.

Wilson admired the persuasiveness, but he wondered if the tanned chariot-riders felt that their metal ship was _shoddy_—even gutted, he had the feeling it was the most advanced thing they had seen.

He had maneuvered his way close enough to hear the tanned men agree, that they would bring seven men to "beg the forgiveness of the Crown King"—oh, that sounded _bad_—

The lead Bradbury-Orwell picked the other six quickly, and muttered a quick admonition to another:

"Hide the books, and be ready to head for the hills."

Wilson felt cold.

And as they left, he had the feeling he'd never see those seven again.

* * *

The next few days were a flurry of activity, everyone packing and preparing and arming themselves with the few weapons they had. Head north, follow the coast.

A few families of Bradbury-Orwells divvied up the original copies and set off to hide them. Should their fears prove unfounded, the few that knew their locations would come and get them.

The rest were to head up the coast, distancing themselves from their distinctly unfriendly neighbors.

Mr. Burnshigh was making frantic calls up and down the coast, warning the others of this impending doom—the message sent was the same: run, do not engage. We don't know how many there are, and we can't mount a proper counterattack with our numbers the way they are.

They left the flag as a symbol of defiance. Let these people think they had cursed them—they certainly had nothing nice to say.

They had reached the swamp, were building rafts to get across the broad river feeding the excess water to the ocean, when the tanned-skins caught up with them.

The Bradbury-Orwell that had stayed with them told them not to fight back. This "Crown King" had sent enough soldiers to outnumber them ten to one, and yet the refugees were ready to fight back to the last man.

It said something about them, Wilson reflected.

And everyone kept their head up as they were marched south.


	65. Wilson's Story, Part IV: Horsemen's Gift

**Chapter 65, everybody! In which more unpleasant stuff happens—wow, Wilson's childhood really sucks in this….**

**And for those who don't know: the chapter title here refers to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse as detailed in the book of Revelation: conquest, war, famine, and death.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Huzzah! Internet! Where would we be without it? Outside, I suppose….That's okay—I am too. And ooh, technology—and football. Heh, I have to remind myself that you're coming out of winter—here football season just started. Yes indeedy. At least you have that—and my goodness, yes. It was not fun—although it did create a semi-funny montage on ****_America's Funniest Home Videos_**** (which leads me to wonder if that show broadcasts outside of the States…it would be surreal, to say the least). Yes, don't test the apple.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Others had fought back, they had discovered.

And they had been massacred.

The so-called advizers were interrogating them down to the last least person, wanting to know who they were, why they came here, what manner of magic they were using, and why they wished to be a blight on the Crown King's lands.

Wilson remained stonily silent throughout his interrogation. His few attempts at being civil had been met with violence—therefore, he refused to give them anything.

His initial supposition had been correct—technologically, these people were far beneath them.

But as he found out, socially, they were equal to their former society, everyone answering unwaveringly to these supposed royals.

Those that survived the interrogations were relegated to what could only be described as slums. The houses were run-down and wet, so close to the river and its dangers—and the supposed ghost-town of Kul Elna.

They refused to be daunted. They _would_ overcome. Stay down, stay quiet—and then take them by surprise.

And thus began the rift between the Tan Skins and the Pale Skins.

* * *

There was a small glimmer of hope, however.

The ghost-town of Kul Elna was not as much of a ghost town as initially supposed.

Rather, it was a den of thieves.

It wasn't the horror that Wilson had first expected, however—the thieves of Kul Elna were quite obviously fascinated with them, and seemed to enjoy their mindset and the "toys" they brought. Within short order, a tenuous alliance had been set up.

Wilson, meanwhile, was busying himself with a new project.

Because if the thieves of Kul Elna were fascinated by their technology, then the royals should be too.

And if _that_ were the case, then a proper presentation of science might woo them in the Pale Skins' favor.

* * *

And then it became worse.

In retrospect, it should have made sense—they had never encountered each other; of _course_ they would have diseases the others had never seen.

But this wasn't realized until after the fact, after thousands and thousands of people died from simple childhood diseases….

The Tan Skins viewed this as a curse. Wilson was inclined to agree with them. For the Tan Skins, this level of death had not been seen since the last time they waged war.

For the Pale Skins, it was like a death knell. They simply did not have the numbers to survive this sort of plague.

Wilson had recovered, one of a very small fraction that did so, and was hobbling around in an attempt to assist the others.

He had to try very hard to remind himself that things could get better, that there _would_ be an improvement, that all the good that had happened when they first arrived could not be reversed like this….

Because his longtime friends the Burnshighs were now dead, and Wilson found himself with the undesirable role of a child having to take care of another child.


	66. Wilson's Story, Part V: Inventing a Way

**Chapter 66, everybody! In which the writer has to now scramble because her buffer runs out with this chapter—darn October and making me want to write Halloween stuff….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! No comment. :) Eee, evil data-eating phone….Cool—I feel the same way about NASCAR. Yes, eventually I'll get it….And huh—I guess humor is universal (and now I have the mental image of ****_Neptune's Funniest Home Videos_****…). Maybe. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Finally, the diseases tapered off. Life slowly began to return to normal.

But not in a good way.

The Tan Skins were now dead-set against the Pale Skins. Even if Wilson weren't trying to recover while taking care of something he had no idea how to take care of, the royals would have no intention of listening to him. And the more time passed, the more exhausted he became from just trying to stay afloat.

Every night he begged skyward for good news, for some tweak of fate that would change everything….

Because it was simply getting to be too much to go on.

* * *

And then one day, Wilson heard of an odd occurrence.

The Brother Prince had married a Pale Skin.

The emotion that flickered in Wilson's chest was so foreign that it took him a while to identify it as hope.

There was hope.

And he still had the machine he had planned on presenting to the royals, to maybe buy the Pale Skins some breathing space.

He had to try. It had to work.

Now if only he knew what to do with Willow.

* * *

Wilson decided that the guards were entirely justified in stopping him at the gate. He reflected he must make quite a sight—a bedraggled beanpole with a toddler strapped to his back and a machine towed behind him.

It took much convincing—and a timely passing by who he later learned was the Crown Queen—before he was allowed to enter.

The passage to the throne room was increasingly becoming very intimidating—his fevered, sleep-deprived mind was rapidly formulating the myriad ways this could go wrong, all wrong—

"Hey."

It was such a _normal_ statement that Wilson leapt into the air out of surprise and fright, startling poor Willow—

And earning him a bemused expression from a Pale Skin woman.

"Neferti told me about you," she said. "She didn't think it'd be a good idea for you to bring a kid in there."

Wilson stammered, tried to explain that he simply didn't trust anyone else to look after her—

"You can trust _me."_

He blinked, realized she had a child with her too, put two-and-two together….

After much deliberation and hair-pulling and detailed care instructions, Wilson was heading for the throne room feeling much lighter than he had.

It was relief, he felt.

* * *

During the presentation, Wilson had managed to silence the quiet, niggling doubts he had had—the Crown King and Brother King, as he found out they were called, were quite intrigued by his invention, especially when he explained that it cut production time by more than half.

"And what do you call that thing?" the Brother King—the one with wild hair—asked.

"A science machine," Wilson declared—he honestly hadn't had time to come up with a better name.

The scowling man lurking behind the thrones, however, exhibited the attitude that most Tan Skins exhibited towards Pale Skins, and wanted to throw Wilson out on the spot. It was made worse when one of them referred to him as _advizer_—oh great. They paid this guy for advice, and his current advice was to throw Wilson out! Preferably on spikes.

Again that Tan Skin woman from before. She leaned over and whispered something into the Crown King's ear—oh please be good news….

"Really? Well," the Crown King said, turning back to Wilson. "We will give this…eh, science machine some consideration."

Really?

_Yes!_

Wilson was certain he was babbling thanks, bowing as he backed away and trying to be _very_ professional when on the inside he was shrieking _Yes! Yes! I did it! I did it!_

He made it to the hall, turned to run down it properly—

And collapsed in a dead faint.


	67. Wilson's Story, Part VI: Sister Queen

**Chapter 67, everybody! In which the writer apologizes for posting late, but this past week has been hectic. In other news, I'll be working on this and my ****_Outta Time_**** story for my two pages per day this week, so we'll have a lovely buffer again. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Most certainly—I suppose the only downside to said sports is that my console games are plugged into the big TV…but then again, I haven't had time to ****_play_**** on my console games for a while now (Ph.D., why you eat my time?). Ooh, feel your pain with the storms. T^T**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review(s)! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far, what with the romping in the snow and the political intrigue and now Wilson's story. To answer part of one of your questions, Yugi and Willow were about three when they went to Frostmore, so they don't really remember anyplace else. As for one of your other questions…it will be entertaining, I hope. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson awoke with no idea where he was.

He sat up, disoriented, mouth feeling cottony—

"Oh hey, you're awake."

He looked, startled, to see the Pale Skin woman from before—the Brother King's wife. The Sister Queen, he supposed.

Wait, awake?

"What happened?" Wilson asked, throat feeling scratchy.

"The guard by the door said you fainted," she said. "He thought you died at first—he was going to have your body cremated because he thought you were diseased. You should have _seen_ the conniption he went in when I checked you."

"I'm grateful you didn't let me go up in smoke."

"I figured you would be."

"How long was I out?"

"About a day."

_"A day!?"_ Wilson squawked.

"Try to project more—I don't think they heard you across the Shallow Seas."

"But, but," Wilson stammered, trying to grasp his words.

"If you're worried about who I think you're worried about, don't be," she said, pointing. Wilson followed her indication to see Willow curled up with a boy, sleeping.

"I haven't been able to separate those two," the woman continued. "About a half-hour of standoffishness, then Yugi does _something_—it just looked like a gesture with a toy—and I haven't been able to get them away from each other since."

"She," Wilson said, pausing to sit himself up. "She…hasn't really had a lot of experience with other people."

"You'd never be able to tell. You hungry, Mister…."

"Wilson." He blinked. "Wilson Percival Higgbury."

"What a name."

"I'm sorry—I neglected to ask yours."

"Hannah Moutou—it's a pleasure," she said, extending her hand for him to shake. He did so.

"Ah," he noised upon release. "I suppose normal naming conventions don't apply here?"

"Do you have any idea the trouble I went through trying to explain the concept of last names?" she asked. "I think Atem thought I was having fun with him. I would have been offended, except Gazim reacted the same way—_he_ didn't mind getting offended at."

"I've heard of Gazim, but who's—"

"Atem? The Brother King—that dope I married."

"Do I dare ask why?"

"It wasn't a political grab, if that's what you're thinking—I'll tell you over…lunch, now, actually—hey you!" Hannah said to a nearby guard. "You mind getting us something to eat?"

The guard bowed deeply and left, leaving another guard in the doorway to glare at Wilson. Wilson swallowed hard.

"The food's going to come with bites missing," Hannah told him. "Because all sorts of charming people want to poison us. Don't mind him—I think there's a whole flock of guards who just drift around, searching for a royal whatever to follow. They don't say anything—it's a little disturbing."

Wilson glanced at her. "Aren't you worried about private conversations?"

Hannah looked at the guard. "Are you going to tell anyone?"

The guard stood at attention and shook his head.

"I'm told they have their tongues cut out," Hannah muttered. "If that's not disturbing, I don't know what is."

Wilson gulped again.

Someone came in, bowing deeply as they presented a platter of food—with bites missing. Another person came in as the other person backed out, this one bearing a pitcher of some liquid and two goblets.

"Thank you," Hannah called as they scraped out.

"If they don't talk, then how did they know there was two people in here?" Wilson asked, holding up a goblet. He ran a finger around the inside experimentally—no grease, no powder.

"I said they don't say anything—I never said they couldn't talk."

"Huh?"

"Remember sign language? Maybe not—that's how they communicate. Some form of sign language. My father taught me a little, but when I signed to them, they just kind of stared at me funny."

"Hmm," Wilson noised, checking her goblet too before sniffing the liquid and pouring it.

"You don't trust them either," she observed.

"Not hardly—I've got more than a few scars that cured me of that. But back to our earlier discussion—why did you marry the Brother King?"

"Well, if you're willing to listen over lunch," Hannah said, indicating the food. "And you'd better eat something—I feel like I'm talking to a skeleton."

Wilson agreed, and after a brief moment of silence, Hannah began her story as Wilson ate.


	68. Wilson's Story, Part VII: Hannah's Story

**Chapter 68, everybody! In which we have a Biblical quote****….****Sorry for the delay on this, but we just got back from vacation, and the past several days have been rather hectic. Fortunately, we're home now, so things should be getting back to normal. On a side note: happy _Back to the Future_ day! 10/21/2015, when Marty McFly went to the future. Now where's my hoverboard?**

**With that said—holy cow, this story suddenly got some interest. I hope I can continue to entertain you all! :D**

**Reading through the seven fresh reviews, I noticed one of the recurring questions is "What does the Frost King look like?" Thank you for asking me this, as this tells me I need to work on my descriptions some more (it's always a little antsy trying to balance descriptions for me). I'll work on getting some artwork for the Frost King up on DeviantArt soon, but in the meantime I'll try to include some more descriptions as well. :)**

**Miqu, thanks for the reviews, favorite, and follow! Welcome! :D I actually want to see some concept art of what you described in your first review, to be honest—ice spiders sound pretty epic. :D I'm glad you've been enjoying things so far—and I miss writing their interaction, too. But don't worry, we'll be getting back to that in a bit. And we'll be getting to that in a bit too. Thanks again, and I hope I can continue to please! :D**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review, follow and favorite! Welcome! :D I'm jittering from nervous energy too after reading your review—I just keep rereading it and grinning. :D Unfortunately, no, there aren't Frost Kings in ****_Don't Starve_****—the closest would be the Deerclops, which Yami bears a passing resemblance to. Thanks again for your review *still grinning* and I hope I can continue to please! :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Thank you, I'm glad you like it! :D And sorry about the absence of Frost King art—I'll be working to rectify that soon.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Actually, it's a story within a story within a story—it's even starting to confuse me….Fortunately, we should be back to the main story soon….Same here—we have nine TVs—I just need to get the games hooked up to something else…like my Xidax…it's got a nice big screen….And yes—but this week hasn't been so bad. That reminds me of a ****_Foxtrot_**** cartoon, actually: "I love spring weather! I hate spring weather. I love spring weather!" with the weather alternating in each panel. :) Yes, back to work!**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Gazim the Thief King was surprisingly affable for someone who was in charge of a bunch of ruffians. And chivalrous—he never let any women go anywhere without someone he trusted. Too many times, he had reported, women had come back with horror stories, and he absolved to prevent that.

And nothing said "Back Off" like a big burly thief bristling with sharp objects.

Not that Pale Skin women needed such protection—they were just as capable of fighting as a man was. Not that this declaration did any good.

Which was why Hannah was currently shopping with the Thief King dogging her steps.

Of course, there were times when this was useful—like right now, with the great big guy who loomed out of nowhere in the cantina and was thinking she wanted to go enjoy his company. She wondered what part of her sensible Pale Skin attire told him she was easy.

But considering it took three of her to match his shoulders, she was quite willing to fall back and let Gazim take point on this—especially when it was accompanied by sharp objects.

But before Gazim could even get a word out, someone jumped the hulk from behind, wrapping a gold-banded arm around his throat—

The guy reached around and pulled his assailant forward by the scruff of the neck, where he dangled uselessly from his grip. He struggled for a few moments before giving it up as fruitless.

"That went a lot better in theory," the hooded assailant said.

Gazim gave him a tiny salute. "Thanks for the distraction."

And before anybody could process what he meant, his sword disappeared in the hulk's stomach.

_Now Eglon was a very fat man_ came unbidden to Hannah's brain before the trio made a break for it.

No need to stick around, after all.

* * *

The trio came to a halt a few sandy blocks away, ducking into an alley that hid them from immediate view—Gazim kept himself between Hannah and the hooded man at all times, true to form.

"You," Hannah gasped once they stopped. "Stop handling everything for me."

Gazim looked at her. "Your faith in your abilities continue to astound me, but my mother would arise from her grave to flog me if I did otherwise."

"_I'll_ flog you _now._"

"Should I leave before the flogging starts?" the hooded guy asked.

Hannah glared at him. "Not that I'm not grateful, but who are you and what do you want?"

"Uh…yeah. My name is not important, and at this point, I would like to apologize for the way my race behaves."

"That's been my general experience."

"So you get picked up by a lot of men?"

"Oh, I'm sorry—I thought you were talking about Tan Skins in general."

"Ouch."

"Her opinion is justified," Gazim interjected, reaching forward and pulling the guy's hood down. "And you would know, would you not?"

The hood had been hiding a shock of incredibly spiny, tri-colored hair. Hannah couldn't help but stare at the oddity.

"The Brother King Atem," Gazim noted. "I had heard you enjoy sneaking out of the palace and causing the royals undue stress."

'Brother King Atem' had the decency to look embarrassed. "How did you guess?" he asked.

In response, Gazim held one of Atem's arms up, indicating the gold band.

"Only an idiot would show their wealth in public like this," he declared.

"I feel vaguely insulted."

"Go with that feeling," Hannah said, tapping Gazim on the arm. "I'd like to go back now."

"Of course," Gazim said, doing one of those sweeping gestures as he escorted her out of the alley.

"What was with that hair?" Hannah asked, not even waiting until they were out of earshot. "He looks like he dropped a toaster in his bathtub."

"What is a toaster?" Gazim asked.

"Hey wait!" Atem said before Hannah could answer, running after them and pulling his hood back on. "Listen, I feel as though we got off on the wrong foot—"

"Go with that feeling," Hannah repeated.

"And I want to make it up to you. May I cordially invite you to the gathering at the palace in two days?"

_That_ made Gazim grind to a halt to stare at Atem. "You want _us_ to attend a _royal_ celebration?"

"Sure—why not?"

"You _do_ realize who it is you are talking to?"

"No—you never introduced yourselves. That is very rude."

"Well," Hannah drawled. "_I_ am a Pale Skin—"

"I know you have an actual name."

"And _this_," she continued, gesturing to Gazim. "Allow me to introduce…."

Gazim barked a laugh before finishing. "The King of Thieves."

Atem blinked, nonplussed. "You certainly do not _look_ the part."

"Not everyone walks around dressed garishly."

Atem immediately looked at Hannah's shirt, prompting her to look at it too: it was a short-sleeve blouse that had basically been stitched together from scraps of other shirts. Not a single piece matched.

"I don't count," she said quickly.

"Why not?" Atem asked.

"I got a pass from the fashion police."

"_Who?"_

"Maybe we _should_ go," Hannah said to Gazim. "I kind of like the idea of screwing with this guy."

"May I consult with you privately?" Gazim said, steering her away from Atem. "I would like to remind you that these are the same people who treated you poorly when you first arrived—and one of the first rules of the thieves is to never be caught in an enclosed space."

"One of the first?"

"The very first is to never be caught at all."

She glanced back at Atem. "A pity—I kind of liked the idea of causing a stir."

"You do not do _that_ unless you are sure you can get back out."

"I'm going," she decided.

"You've ignored my previous conversation."

"I have. I don't have anyone waiting for me—you do. Don't bother."

And with that, she walked back to Atem.

"I want a _guarantee_," she said, poking him in the chest—he looked startled. Good. "That I get out of there unaccosted and in one piece. And no hexes or anything else you superstitious kooks might cook up."

"Uh, yes?" Atem said, looking like he was wondering what on earth she was talking about.

"And we bring as many colleagues as we desire," Gazim said from her shoulder.

"I thought you weren't going," Hannah said to him.

"Remember my dead mother?"

"The one who'd rise from her grave and flog you?"

"That's the one."

"Sure, done," Atem said.

Hannah blinked. "You seriously just gave the Thief King leeway to rob you blind."

"I trust you," he said. "I get the feeling that if you _did_ intend me harm, I would not still be standing."

"He has us there," Gazim said. "But that does not mean we aren't going to take advantage of you if you continue to be so stupid."

Atem looked confused. "'Aren't'? What kind of word is _that?"_

Gazim looked at Hannah. "I seem to be picking up your tendency to slur words."

"It's a _contraction_—it's proper grammar," she said, before glancing at Atem. "I notice you haven't commented on _my_ use of them."

Atem shrugged. "I thought they were some idiom. And I figured if I asked _you_ you would tell me what an idiot I was."

"But now I don't have to," she said, walking away. "You just did. See you Friday."

As she walked away, she struggled very hard not to slam her palm to her face when she heard Atem address Gazim.

"'Contractions'?"

"It is what they call their slurring of words," Gazim explained.

"But it sounds so…so…."

"Just go with it."


	69. Wilson's Story, Part VIII: The Gathering

**Chapter 69, everybody! In which I fear the readers will hate me….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes—"And that is how I met your mother." XD Now I'm picturing Atem with Neil Patrick Harris' voice….Eh….**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! *blushes with you* Yup—I'll be trying to get some artwork of him up on my DeviantArt account next week, so it'll be clearer then. Heheh, yup—someone has to be streetwise around here. XD Yes, success! I shall strive to continue to please! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Hannah dressed her best for the party.

Not that she thought anybody would be looking at her—they would be too preoccupied with the forty thieves going with her.

"It is a proper number for thieves," Gazim had told her.

"There will be conniptions," Hannah informed him.

"You should have thought of that before you accepted his invitation."

She supposed so.

But walking in, she felt that it might have been worth it. She wished she had a camera—the expressions in here were priceless. And there was Atem walking up, true to form.

"Glad you could make it," Atem said, greeting them.

"I think you're the only one," Hannah observed.

"That happens," Atem said, looking around. "What did you say? I cause the royals undue stress."

"I do recall saying that," Gazim said.

"Anyway, might I introduce my brother and my sister-in-law, Crown King Aknemhaden and Crown Queen Neferti. This is Hannah and the Thief King Gazim—I think I mentioned them before."

The identified Crown King put a hand on Atem's shoulder.

"If I had not promised our mother otherwise," he said slowly, a strained smile on his face. "I would kill you right now."

"Thank you, Mom," Atem said, looking up.

Hannah couldn't help but stare.

"May I inquire as to your expression?" the Crown Queen asked.

"It's just—that was almost _normal_," Hannah said.

"I think all mothers experience that." She turned her attention to Gazim. "I trust you and your contingent will behave yourselves?"

"Yes, your majesty," Gazim said, bowing slightly.

"Then you may stay. Incidentally, stay away from that green paste—I tried it earlier and was unimpressed."

"Again, that was almost normal," Hannah observed.

The Crown Queen smiled at her. "I have been wanting a chance to have an audience with a member of your party without guards filling the room—perhaps you might indulge me later?"

"Not unattended."

"Probably wise, considering past history."

"Perfect! Now that everything is settled," Atem said, steering Hannah away. "I have wanted to ask someone like you several things for _ages_." He directed her to a seat, where moments later someone plopped a plate of food in front of her.

Atem sat opposite her. She glanced around to note that the initial frostiness had thawed somewhat, and that people were settling in.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"I have found in the past that the best way to get something done is to just _do_ it," he said. "I have been told I am becoming a bad influence on my nephew."

She glanced at him, prompting him to point out a kid dodging a guard.

"Does that hair run in your family, or what?"

"I have no idea. But back to what I was saying earlier: tell me _everything."_

She glared at him before arching an eyebrow. "About?"

"Your culture, your technology—absolute strangers wash up on our shores, and instead of learning about them, we listen to our so-called adviziers and try to kill them all."

"Hmm."

He shrugged. "I will be the first to admit it could have gone better."

"_That's_ an understatement."

"I agree. I…do not suppose we cannot start making amends, somewhat?"

"Hmm," she noised again, before adjusting her seat.

"All right," she said, wondering how long she could stay straight-faced and how long it would be before he realized she was stringing him along. "First, we have this little rubber duck that we use to test bathtubs for sharks…."

* * *

"….And the moron actually thought I was serious!"

Wilson smiled politely as Hannah burst into laughter. "And then?" he prodded carefully.

"And then he and I began seeing more of each other—I'm certain you know where these things go from there," she said, nodding at her little boy.

"I can extrapolate, yes."

"So it wasn't quite love at first sight or whatever bunk it is that romantics try to sell," she said, taking a drink. "But it hasn't been bad. I have to admit, though, it's been nice talking with you. We should do this again sometime."

"I…don't know…."

"I think you should," someone said from the door. Wilson looked up to see the woman from earlier—Neferti, the Crown Queen.

"I think it would be good to have some new blood in the palace," she continued. "And besides, Hannah needs someone around who is…more similar to her behavior."

"Who uses contractions," Hannah clarified.

"And I wish to see more of your inventions—they keep my husband and brother-in-law busy."

"Do they?" Wilson asked, not daring to hope.

"They have barely left your device alone. I am reminded of my son and his friends, actually."

"Then it's settled," Hannah said, before Wilson could say any more. "You're hired."

"Hired for what?" Wilson asked, feeling as though he had suddenly missed part of the conversation.

"You're the new royal inventor."

"Is there such a thing?"

Hannah looked at Neferti.

"There is now," she agreed.

"I'm not sure I—" Wilson began.

He didn't finish.

"It'll be good for you," Hannah said. "And it'll be good for her, too," she added, pointing at Willow.

_That_—was more convincing, actually. "I…suppose I could…."

"Perfect! Your first order of business: make a rubber duck for Atem. Your second order of business: make a toaster for Gazim."

"You're not serious."

"Look at this face—does this face look serious to you?"

"It needs practice," Neferti said.

A spiny head popped in. "Is he going to do it?"

"You're getting your rubber duck," Hannah said to the newcomer.

The newcomer—who could only be Brother King Atem—pumped his arm in celebration. "_Yes!"_

"I feel like I'm being had," Wilson said.

"The sad thing is, he's always like that," Hannah told him.

"I was led to believe the royals behaved otherwise."

"That would be the PR man."

"Head Advizier Akenhadin," Neferti said. "Other brother to the Crown King. He dislikes me."

"And he still works here?" Wilson asked, figuring it was nicer than asking why he was still alive.

"He dislikes everyone, so I do not feel singled out."

Wilson suddenly realized who was lurking behind the thrones during his presentation.

"And now he's going to dislike us more for hiring Wilson," Hannah said. "So what do you think, Mr. Higgsbury? You want to help us make Akenhadin's life miserable?"

"Is that in the job description?" Wilson asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You do it simply by existing."

Wilson noted her expression—she wasn't _desperate,_ per se, but she wanted someone around who came from the same place she did. She needed someone who spoke the same language, so to speak.

And, glancing at Willow, he supposed he needed it too.

He accepted her outstretched hand. "Ms. Moutou, I'd be glad to."

She was grinning broadly now. "Excellent."

* * *

What followed was a most excellent year, productive and not as lonely. Willow seemed to be flowering with a friend her age, and Wilson was quite enjoying having adults to talk to.

So, naturally, things had to go south. Wilson was beginning to think that such events were inevitable.

How else would one explain a resurgence of the Pale Skin disease?

Especially when it killed Neferti and Atem.


	70. Wilson's Story, Part IX: Future Schemes

**Chapter 70, everybody! In which we somewhat reverse the trend of the last several chapters and head for an upswing—and apologies to anyone out there who speaks Yiddish. ^^; On a side note, happy Halloween! Go get some candy! :D**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! Yes, we'll be seeing it as soon as I get the Halloweeny stuff out of my system. Yes, it's getting a tad confusing—I had to refresh my memory and re-read what I've written, but we'll be getting back to the present soon. Darn—I planned to turn everyone into cardboard cutouts next chapter. I kid, of course—I shall strive to continue to please! :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Really? I'm surprised—he's one of those guys who's gotten some coverage over the years (or maybe it's just me—I had ****_Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog_**** assigned as homework at Full Sail University ****_twice_****, so I got a bit more exposure to him. On the positive side, I got to listen to Bad Horse's song :D). Pfft—I'm familiar with that version, and you're right there, not good. XD "We've brought you a Wilson to appease you!" "Fetch me a better one!" Yes indeedy—and yes indeed. It's all downhill from here—no wait, it's uphill: I'm sending them up the mountain in the next couple of chapters.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! I ****_know_****—Wilson's not had a pleasant life, it seems. On the positive side, things will be going uphill from here on out—literally, as they'll be heading up the mountain soon. No worries—I figured as much. ;) Eh, not really—it sounds like it up until I tell you that some of these TVs are older than I am. What we do is, when we buy a new TV, if the old one still works, we move it to another room. And this is where we're introduced to the paradox of the old boxy TVs working better than the new flatscreen ones….Hail! Better wear a helmet. And yes, you do cut these mighty close….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson had a hard time saying that he honestly hated anyone.

Advizier Akenhadin truly challenged that.

The Crown King had gone into a deep depression after the death of his wife and brother, and Akenhadin had taken every advantage this lapse granted. And why not? Who could the Pale Skins complain to _now_?

So when Wilson saw Akenhadin heading his way, he grimaced and braced himself.

He was surprised, however, when he was told that the Crown Prince wanted to mount an expedition to the mountains, and that Akenhadin himself had suggested using Pale Skins, due to their better tolerance for cold weather.

There was a catch. There had to be a catch.

Sure enough….

"One more thing," Akenhadin said before departing. "If even _one_ of you come back without the Crown Prince, I will have the royal guards hunt every last one of you down. After that…use your imagination. Am I clear?"

"Inescapably," Wilson stated. "You putz," he added, once he was out of earshot.

This stank like a setup.

And there wouldn't be a Pale Skin who thought otherwise.

But the alternative was unpalatable.

* * *

The Crown Prince was insufferable, in Wilson's opinion. Arrogant, fairly self-centered, and didn't take other people's council. If he came up with an idea, he expected others to follow. He was like Atem without the redeeming qualities.

Wilson was fairly certain what this expedition was—the Crown Prince's last hurrah of an adventure before he was forcibly tied to the throne that his incapable father would be extricated from.

Maybe that was why Akenhadin was allowing this—he wanted the heir to the throne out of the way.

Well, the joke was on him! There was still—

Wilson very nearly choked on air.

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking at the young Willow and Yugi sitting on one of the sleds and looking like they were ready to go. He glanced up and spotted Hannah. "Please tell me you're here to see us off."

"Talk to _him_," she said, pointing at the senior Advizier, Solomon—Yugi's grandfather, technically. _He_ was dressed to go too.

"I do not feel that we would be safe here," Solomon said.

"We're not going to be safe elsewhere, either," Wilson said. "Or haven't you noticed who constitutes this expedition?"

Of the hundred Pale Skins making up the contingent, perhaps two dozen were actually fit to do so. The rest were more suited to handiwork, with quite a few children mixed in. He wondered if the Crown Prince even noticed.

"Part of this was my idea," Solomon said.

"_What?"_

"It's actually quite good," Hannah said. "I was surprised."

"And why would you be?" Solomon asked, affronted.

"I don't suppose you'd clue _me_ in," Wilson said, miffed.

"The Crown Prince is mounting an expedition to the mountains," Solomon explained slowly.

"I'm not a moron."

"Would it not make sense to have a settlement there?"

"Continue…."

"And would it not make sense to have the settlement consist of those who have some experience with colder weather?"

"Yes…."

"And would it not be better to have those members be families that would adjust well? And would it not be better to use those that the head advizier is targeting anyway?"

"Ah," Wilson noised, finally seeing.

"Akenhadin's trying for genocide again," Hannah said. "So we might as well take his targets away from him. He wants to send Pale Skins? Fine—we'll take everyone who can make the journey."

Wilson looked at the contingent again, this time in a new light.

"Only a hundred?" he asked, after a quick head count.

Hannah touched his arm. "Wilson…that's half of everyone that's left."

He felt cold inside. Two hundred out of the several thousand that started.

"What about the other half?" he decided to ask.

"Older people and those married to Tan Skins," she said. "They're hiding with the thieves in Kul Elna."

"Fine. Now explain why _you're_ coming."

"Again, my idea," Solomon said. "I would rather see _someone_ in the royal line live to see adulthood."

"He's coming too," Hannah said, pointing.

"I have been wanting to retire," Solomon said. "And I want to keep an eye on the Brother Prince while I am at it."

"None of this 'brother prince' stuff," Hannah scolded. "That's not going to have any weight up there."

"I am old-fashioned—I am not going to change in my old age."

"Don't make me pick up that tongue-cutting thing."

"I will make an effort."

Wilson, meanwhile, was seriously considering this scheme. "So we take the contingent out…."

"And once there," Hannah said, smiling now that she saw him thinking. "We convince Yami of the wisdom of a settlement there," she said, nodding at the Crown Prince.

"I will be key there," Solomon interjected.

"We stay up in the mountains in a manageable location, where we will rebuild our numbers _away_ from Pale-Skin-hating sun worshippers."

"And if I recall those maps correctly," Wilson said slowly. "They'd have to cross a desert and a swamp to get to us."

"Our location will be easily defendable as well."

"And we can laugh at Akenhadin every day for the rest of our long lives. I'm starting to really love this idea."

"I knew you'd see the wisdom of this."

"I do indeed. Are we, _ahem_, ready to go?"

Hannah winked. "_Please,_ Mr. Higgsbury—we're Pale Skins. We were _born_ ready."

"We packed everything last night," Solomon said. "Everything needed to start a settlement is packed and ready to go on the steeds and the sleds."

"Brilliant," Wilson said, crouching next to Willow to tug on a ponytail. "And what say you to this venture?"

Willow hugged her bear and looked at him. "What's snow?" she asked.

"A very cold substance that can be used as a projectile."

"Does it burn?"

"Sadly, no," Wilson informed her, frowning slightly—her obsession with burning things was beginning to become unhealthy.

"Look what Mom made me," Yugi interjected, putting an oversized hat on his head—it resembled a googly-eyed penguin with flaps for covering his ears.

"I figure he'll grow into it," Hannah said. "Now that you're no longer scowling, do you want to help us give everything one final once-over?"

Wilson was surprised to note that yes, he was smiling at her.

"I'd love to."


	71. Wilson's Story, Part X: Eavesdropping

**Chapter 71, everybody! In which this beats ****_Chaos Avatar Desertion_**** as my longest published fan-fiction to date as far as chapters are concerned—page-wise, we've already long passed it, and word-count wise. Wow….**

**On a positive note, work on this has really been rolling for me—we're now set through to the middle of December. :D Now I just need to scan in my sketches and bolster my Frost King folder over on DeviantArt….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, that's the term our current narrator Wilson has assigned him—although to be honest, I could probably count on one hand the people that Wilson ****_doesn't _****consider insufferable, so it ****_could_**** be chalked up to an unreliable narrator. Yes, that will be theorized very soon—I've got the next eight chapters written out, so we should be getting to that before the year's out. Maybe. But yeah—Akenhadin needs to take a long walk off a short pier. :)**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! Yes, it is. :D And yes, stubborn proud idiot describes Crown Prince Yami very well. And he might redeem himself—stay tuned. ;)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, you did review early! Yes to the first, and yes to the second, and don't sweat reviewing when there's real-life stuff you have to attend to. We all have real life stuff, and regrettably, we have to attend to that before we can busy ourselves with fun(ner) stuff. That—would have been a ****_very_**** interesting review….I probably would have responded to it with "Uh…konnichiwa?" And then I would have put "thanks for the review" into Google Translator. And huh, my copy of Microsoft Word actually recognizes "konnichiwa" as a word….I don't know why that surprises me….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson walked briskly, suddenly very keen on getting underway. Everything looked good—even the Pale Skins who were planning on acting as guards on this venture. They had spears and bows, Wilson noted—good for snow-hunting, to avoid avalanches—but he could identify certain bundled shapes strapped to their backs and hidden under packs: the precious few shotguns the Pale Skins had managed to save.

He'd have to figure out how to prototype some.

He stopped suddenly behind a horse—shushed it quickly and rubbed its neck.

Because there was the Crown Prince right now, having his own private conversation.

"I can_not_ believe you won't come," he said—contractions had permeated the Crown Prince's language, despite the adviziers' best efforts.

Such linguistics were not the problems of Bakura, son of Gazim, and Teana, another result of a Pale Skin and a Tan Skin coexisting. Both were friends with the Crown Prince and—Wilson winced at the unintended pun—thick as thieves.

"What's there to disbelieve?" Bakura asked, irritated. "I'm not going into _cold._ We're talking cold and wet and snow and _ice._ I can't believe _you're_ going—your blood will freeze in your veins."

"You're exaggerating."

"Your hair will freeze. And fall off."

_That_ made the Crown Prince involuntarily grip a handful of his spiky locks.

"Going after the Frozen Heart was _your_ idea," the Crown Prince said.

Frozen Heart?

"It was a _suggestion_," Bakura clarified. "Like a…things I'd like to own but know better. Like the Millennium Ring."

"Every thief wants the Millennium Ring."

"For good reason!"

"Isn't it cursed?" Teana asked.

"That's why I haven't acted on it."

"I mean the Frozen Heart."

"In theory, there's an enchantment on it," the Crown Prince said, holding the Millennium Puzzle up—he had inherited it after his uncle's death and his father's…episode. "There's supposed to be an enchantment on _these things_ too, but _I_ haven't noticed anything."

Teana looked concerned—Wilson guessed that she had the same thoughts he had earlier: that this was the Crown Prince's attempt to have an adventure before responsibility set in.

"I'll be fine," the Crown Prince said, noting her expression. "But…I think I'd be better if you two came along."

Bakura threw his hands up in the air. "You couldn't _pay_ me enough to go into that cold," he spat, before turning on his heels and marching off.

They watched him go. Wilson could sense the Crown Prince's scowl, despite his having his back to him.

Teana looked at the Crown Prince. "I'll go talk to him," she said, then gave the Crown Prince a kiss—Wilson rolled his eyes. "For luck."

The Crown Prince tilted his head to her. "Don't take too long in convincing him—I'll be lonely up there without you."

Teana laughed. "Lonely in a crowd—there's a new concept."

And with that, she ran after Bakura.

"You have no idea," the Crown Prince muttered.

Wilson grabbed the reins of the horse and stepped forward, clearing his throat.

The crown prince turned to glare at him, pretty impressively, to be quite honest.

Wilson simply smiled blandly at him. "Your contingent is ready and willing, your majesty," Wilson said, offering the reins.

The Crown Prince glared at him a few more moments before snatching the reins away.

"Then let's get started already," he said.

"Certainly, your majesty," Wilson simpered as the Crown Prince mounted the horse.

How glorious, that soon he'd never have to say those last two words again.


	72. Wilson's Story, Part XI: On Their Way

**Chapter 72, everyone! Let's generate some positive energy for the world and pray for Paris.**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! No, don't cry! D: Yes he is….And Yami would love that, actually…once we explain what a hug is to him….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! In a way, since he's counting on nobody from the Sunlit Kingdom heading to the mountains after the Crown Prince's expedition. Wilson's banking on the Crown Prince being tied to the throne (which is horrifying from the ****_Don't Starve_**** standpoint, actually) and therefore too busy to bother with the Pale Skins anymore.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, hopefully they pack extra socks! *bricked* Yes, you reviewed remarkably early—I had to double-check the day to make sure it wasn't Saturday (dodges another brick). Good luck with those exams! ^^ Yes, I can see that—and yes, it was extremely goofy. The translation came out talking about dyed tings, so I probably would have guessed I was talking to a ****_Rayman_**** fan….Wait, I've used that translator before—****_aaugh, what have I been saying!?_**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The contingent was in very high spirits as they travelled through the desert, journeying through the night to get out of the hot sun as soon as possible. At this rate, it didn't take long to arrive at the more temperate, solid sweet spot that the Pale Skins had once settled on. Wilson's dog Chester was ecstatic to be smelling familiar territory, and it took all of Wilson's influence on the mutt to keep him in check.

A day after that saw them at the edge of the Great Swamp.

As the advance party checked and marked a clear path, the rest of the contingent rested a tad. So far, the most interesting thing to happen on this venture was the spotting of a cabin in the distance that morning—which they had subsequently gone out of their way to avoid after Wilson and Hannah had mentioned that the occupants might be hostile. Solomon had advised the wisdom of discretion, which, Wilson suspected, was the only reason they had avoided it.

Now, looking back at it through a looking-glass, Wilson had to admit that it was likely owned by one of the few surviving Bradbury-Orwells who had spirited away the remnants of their culture. He could see a small family working their farm and keeping a cautious eye on the sizeable party. Understandable.

Wilson squelched the temptation to go over to the cabin and ask for copies of some of the books—it wouldn't do to do that so shortly after advising against it—and dragged himself back to the rather heated conversation that the Crown Prince was having with the Senior Advizier.

"Furthermore, I'm not so certain I ought to put a lot of stock in the contingent _you_ picked," the Crown Prince said, pointing the compass he had been using to measure out the map at Solomon. They both were already bundled up, much to Wilson's amusement. Yes, it was nippy, and yes, his blood had gotten thinner from being in hot weather for so long, but it wasn't _that_ bad.

"That opinion comes from youth," Solomon said—Wilson smirked at how he circumnavigated calling the Crown Prince an idiot. "I believe this selection will come through in a pinch. And besides that, they are not as easily intimidated by cold." Here he pointed right at Wilson, who still hadn't put on any warmer clothing. Wilson quickly debated and figured that glancing over them to see if anybody was coming back yet was preferable to looking like he was eavesdropping. Again.

The Crown Prince glared at him over the furry ruff of his coat before snorting. "I'm still not impressed."

"The feeling's mutual," Wilson said as he peered through his looking-glass at the swamp.

Any doubts over the journey were also now mutual as well—the swamp ground was a sickly purple-grey, with a thin mist hanging over it and weaving through thorny plants. He could hear bugs buzzing in there—count them all blood donors, he figured.

But on that same token, every last fault he found with the swamp was also a benefit.

Because every last one of those faults was a pitfall if Akenhadin sent anyone after them.

* * *

Any time they made up at the beginning of the journey was eaten up by their rather hazardous journey through the swamp. They lost a few people to accident, and a couple more to plain stupidity.

There was a general air of celebration when they finally climbed the first incline out of the swamp and into an evergreen forest. Nearly everyone inhaled deeply of the pine scent after endlessly smelling the rot of the swamp.

"Well," Wilson noised, looking around and enjoying the feel of solid ground beneath the thick layer of pine needles. "Well…it's all…piney."

"'Piney'?" Hannah echoed, laughing.

"It's a scientific term."

"_Right."_

A few of those pines were cut down to provide kindling for the next several days' worth of travel. A few people went to hunt the rabbits that scuttled everywhere, and even the Crown Prince was smiling as he added to his map.

It was a warm feeling permeating the group, despite the chill in the air, and Wilson found himself drifting off as Hannah sang Yugi and Willow to sleep. Yes indeed, the rocks and trees, skies and seas, all nature sang the music of the spheres tonight.

He was smiling as he nodded off.

* * *

The incline steadily got steeper, alleviated occasionally by a plateau or small valley. The mountain range was showing itself to be much vaster than initially supposed, and Wilson was finding himself again and again turning around to see where they had gone.

"I feel that if we keep going, we might end up past the treeline and in inhospitable land," Wilson voiced to Hannah.

"I mentioned that earlier," she said, looking back down the mountain with him—they were perched on an outcropping that gave a spectacular view of the valley they had just vacated. "I'm beginning to wonder where exactly we're going."

Good question. "I don't think it's a _where_ exactly—more of a _what."_

"Do _what?"_

"Before we started on this little venture, I overheard the Crown Prince talking with those cohorts of his—they said something about going after a 'Frozen Heart.'"

"I'm waiting for you to start speaking sense."

"Well, it seemed to be an idea more under Bakura's steam, so I'd have to say it's a treasure of some sort."

"Hmm," Hannah noised, looking back at the huge mountain ahead of them and the myriad other smaller ones stretching from east to west. "If it's treasure in the singular, there's an awful lot of mountain range to be looking for it in."

"Indeed," Wilson said, turning to look with her. "I think it's about time we sprang that idea of a settlement somewhere around here—at the very least, we could pitch the idea that a base of command from which to branch out and return to might be best."

"Do you think he'd buy it?" Hannah asked.

"I've been watching him throughout this little venture," Wilson told her, helping her off the outcropping and leading the way back to the rest of the group. "He's been searching for a means to ditch us for quite some time."

Hannah made another pensive noise, looking at the mountain again.

"Do you think there'd be valleys on the other side of that thing?" she asked, pointing in the general direction they had been heading—between two prongs of the mountain range.

"Undoubtedly."

"One last hurdle then," she said. "Once we're out of line of sight of even that desert, _then_ I'll feel comfortable about springing the idea."

"All right," Wilson noised. "We just have to wait until we hit hospitable land again, then."

She must have sensed the quiet, niggling doubt eating at his brain. "Hey," she noised, elbowing him. "How big do you want your house to be?"

Wilson indulged her in entertaining the notion.

"My house can be as big as it needs to be. It's my _lab_ that needs to be sizeable…."

* * *

Wilson knew they had hit the jackpot when they crested the peak and looked down on a well-forested valley.

So thusly, when they had entered the valley and made camp, he, Hannah, and Solomon sprung their brilliant idea on the Crown Prince. They included the necessity of having a friendly base to which further expeditions into the mountain range could return to—and with everyone busy with making the settlement, Wilson interjected, smaller contingents could go out exploring the area.

_Those_ had been the magic words—the Crown Prince had instantly perked at the idea of ditching the larger group. He approved the idea immediately.

And thus, work on building the settlement of Frostmore began.

The name itself had been a bit of tongue-in-cheek commenting—they had been wondering what to call it and had been bantering about name suggestions throughout the group, when someone called out "Frostmore! The place where you can always get more frost!"

Considering that the snow they swept away revealed a frost-coated ground, it seemed humorously acceptable.

The Crown Prince stayed on for about a day to supervise, sort of—he wasn't quite paying attention, instead walking the perimeter with a compass and his map. The next day, he and a small group of guards picked by himself and the head guard Ushio left—Wilson had to admit, the Crown Prince had held out longer than he expected.

They had made a few igloos yesterday and had made sure to have a large bonfire to keep everyone warm and the predators at bay—none had been spotted yet, but the general consensus was that there were at least wolves in the area. The bonfire itself had also doubled as a means to thaw the ground, and the children were tasked with building more igloos (they were actually quite good at it, considering they were a step up from snow forts) while the adults set to building more permanent lodging. Chester was bounding around and marking his territory, snow sticking to his ruddy fur and gradually turning him white.

Wilson was surveying the area to determine the best places to build the permanent lodgings when angry exclamations came to his attention.

"Watch it, huh? You nearly took my head off!"

"Don't blame _me—_the handle broke!"

Wilson glanced over to where two men—he was fairly certain one was Jared Johansen—were arguing. One was holding a handle and the pick head that had broken off.

Wilson would have brushed it off as merely an accident, if it weren't for the fact that an axe met the same fate almost immediately.

Once was odd. Twice was suspicious.

Another axe went.

Three times meant something was up.

Wilson crossed over to the arguers, and while Hannah was trying to get them to shut up—she finally had to resort to a two-fingered whistle—Wilson examined the broken tools.

What he saw wasn't good.

"Well?" Hannah prompted.

"These were sabotaged," Wilson told her, indicating the smooth edge contrasting with the small, splintery break. "Were the supplies left unattended at any time?"

Hannah's expression was grim. "Maybe."

Wilson felt cold, and it wasn't from the snow surrounding them.

"We need to check the rest of the supplies," he declared. "_Now."_


	73. Wilson's Story, Part XII: Sabotage

**Chapter 73, everybody! In which damage is assessed….**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! I don't know why, but I find it funny that my e-mail edited your review but FanFiction didn't. Moving on, no it isn't—don't pull your hair out! D: No, they can't afford that….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, this one is remarkably early as well! Good question…and yes it was—it seemed a fitting reference. :D Ah, hopefully you survive the experience. I was only translating one or two words, so I should be good—it was work for ****_Glint and the Pirates _****(so I wasn't saying unintentional obscenities to anyone, thank goodness), and I figured some sailors might employ one or two foreign words on occasion. Maybe I should find those ****_For Dummies_**** books….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Possibly….And most definitely. They are! We're finally seeing how this whole mess got started.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

It wasn't good.

Nothing that they might have used while travelling was sabotaged, which Wilson figured counted for small miracles—but everything needed to establish a settlement, from the heavier machinery to the long-term feed for the horses, had been absolutely trashed. The closer they got to the bottom of the packs, the worse it got.

"How much you want to bet this was Akenhadin's doing?" Hannah asked, holding up what used to be some sort of useful electrical device—it was now in small pieces.

"I hate betting with you," Wilson sighed, examining his scientific tools—at least he had some that he kept on his person at all times, but what he had packed was trashed.

"I would not have guessed that he would make such an attempt on the Crown Prince's life," Solomon said, throwing some splintered wood on the bonfire—it might as well serve some purpose, he had explained. "The Brother Prince, yes, because of his obsession with purity of blood, but not the Crown Prince."

"Ah, but think how convenient," Wilson pointed out. "Lost on an expedition forever—and no body to produce."

"And who else is there in line for the throne now?" Hannah asked.

There was quite a bit of murmuring now—Wilson began to feel a numb fear creep up on him as he mechanically sorted through what was left of his destroyed supplies. Their clever plan—their reversal of Akenhadin's plotting—was falling apart around them. Their double-cross had in turn been double-crossed.

_They were going to die up here._

"Wilson!"

"Hnnh?" Wilson noised, looking up from a few of his metal tools—they were dented and bent, like someone had dropped rocks on them.

Hannah put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wilson, I need you and your brain here with me," she told him. "Do you think you can make us the basic tools at least? Axes and picks and things like that?"

"I…I suppose….It should be simple enough…."

"Good," Hannah said. "Because we're going to need those things, and _fast_." She winked. "Akenhadin may think we're feeble-minded, but we're good at surviving impossible odds, remember?"

These _were_ some pretty impossible odds….

The thought must have shown on his face. "Wilson," she said, crouching down to eye level—he had sunk to his knees without realizing it. "We crossed an endless ocean and cheated death hundreds of times to get here—this isn't going to beat us. We've got too much to live for."

Wilson glanced over her shoulder, where the kids were still happily building igloos and throwing snowballs, oblivious to the adults' discomfort.

They did.

Wilson stood up suddenly, prompting Hannah to rock back on her heels before standing also.

"I need some sticks, some sharp rocks, and probably some rope to hold it together!" Wilson called. Hannah whistled again to ensure attention, and Wilson repeated his need. "I can make some basic tools out of that—they won't be good, but they'll be better than nothing. I'll show a few of you how to do it, and then those few are to show others how to," he ordered, falling back on his Bradbury-Orwell training.

"Once you've got one of your own and showed someone else, get to work," Hannah ordered. "We've only got a few hours until dark, and I'd like us to at least get _started_ before then. _Why are you all still standing there? Get moving!"_

"Very nice," Solomon observed as everyone hopped to.

"Glad you approve," Hannah said. "By the by—what makes you think _you're_ exempt?"

"I have children to supervise," Solomon said quickly, hobbling over to where they were still busy turning soft snow into projectile weaponry.

"Try not to get in range," Hannah called.

"I suppose it's too much to ask," Wilson mused. "That we have relatively easy lives from here on."

"Not until after you die," Hannah told him. "And that depends entirely upon which direction you go when that happens."

Wilson conceded that point as people started running towards him loaded down with sticks and rocks.

Well, I suppose there's work to be done," he sighed.

* * *

What with being busy and all, no one really noticed the Crown Prince's prolonged absence.

That is, until Yugi said something.

"When is Yami coming back?"

With that singular question, everyone realized that said Crown Prince had been gone for nearly two weeks. It wasn't a terrible problem—he probably got caught up exploring or the like. But it was odd that he hadn't returned, or sent someone back with a request for more supplies.

Maybe he was suffering from the sabotage as well.

Ushio collected a few of his guards and set off in search of some sign of the Crown Prince's party. Wilson, figuring that was all they could do, set back to work.

"He hates me."

Wilson looked over to see little Yugi looking remarkably dejected.

Hannah kneeled down in front of him. "Now, Yugi, that's not true—what makes you say that?"

Yugi glanced at Willow, and they exchanged inscrutable expressions. Before Wilson could even wonder what that was about, Yugi was already answering Hannah. "He doesn't like me."

"The Crown Prince doesn't like anyone," Wilson muttered, stepping back quickly to avoid Hannah's slap.

"Don't be silly," Hannah said to Yugi, brushing his bangs out of his face—they bounced back into place comically. "Now you two go and play and I'll see about making some tea or hot chocolate."

Yugi and Willow nodded and ran off.

"I'm beginning to think they're glued together," Hannah muttered, standing up.

"And someone as misanthropic as that is to be the ruler of a kingdom," Wilson observed.

"I'd like to think it's just standard brotherly relations," Hannah said. "Put two boys together and the older one will snub the younger one just because."

"_I_ never found that to be true."

"That's because you're special," Hannah said, patting him on the shoulder. "Now get back to work. We might actually have a few houses done before nightfall!"


	74. Wilson's Story, Part XIII: The Sighting

**Chapter 74, everybody! And good news! Starting next week, December 1st, we will be resuming our twice-a-week schedule on _The Frost King!_ Success! :D Of course, this means that _The Things We Do For Science_ will be moved to Thursdays, but fanfic readers are flexible, right?...Guys?...Hello?...**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! Well…_someone's_ probably dead…with any luck, Manny Calavera will give them more than just a walking stick. *bricked* I checked, and according to my profile data, review censoring is turned on, so I'm not sure (I'm just glad it didn't crash the computer or something like that). Okay then….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Too true, too true….And that's...probably a feasible worry….And yes, they are cousins—to answer your age question, you're right in believing that Yami is a teenager in this; he's probably in his mid-teens in this (I'd have to consult my timeline to give exact ages), so there'd be at least a ten-year age difference between Yugi and Yami, hence the snubbing (which was kind of inspired by one of your reviews over on _The Magicians' Realm,_ but has some basis in the personality the Crown Prince has in this). Well, we find out _something_ in this chapter….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! He's up a creek without a paddle, that's where! *bricked* Where are these bricks coming from?...Yes, this early-reviewing system is working quite nicely….Woot! :D Bakura requests that you use that free time to get him out of school. Yes, sailors were quite known for using pidgin and truncating words—maybe I ought to look into that Rosetta Stone thing….Or find someone who knows fluent German, Gaelic, and/or French, considering I have characters that speak more than one or two words in those languages….So much to do, so little time….And true, considering those books insult you on the cover.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Ghostbusters ****© 1984 Ivan Reitman (Wilson quotes Egon in this chapter, although I doubt he's aware of it)**

It was a few days later when Ushio came back.

Night had fallen, and with it, snow. The temperature had steadily been dropping, and people were crowded together close to fires in their shelters to keep warm. Wilson supposed the extra body heat helped to keep everyone warm.

He, currently, was in a fully-built one-room home with Hannah, Solomon, Yugi, Willow, and a handful of the orphan children that had been brought along on the expedition—he had heard their names earlier, but had only really remembered Joey's name, and that was only because everyone else kept squawking it.

They had had dinner, and now were gathered by the fire in the middle of the room. The kids were already asleep, and Hannah was teaching Solomon how to darn (the fact that he didn't already know boggled Wilson's mind) while Wilson set to salvaging his electrical doodads for workable parts.

It was nearly time for bed, to be honest, and the world had sunk into a comfortable silence, slowly deepening thanks to the growing blanket of snow. Wilson was beginning to nod off.

That was quickly cured by a frantic banging on their door.

_"Open up! Hurry!"_

Wilson jerked awake, looked to Hannah—

Who was already at the door and opening it.

Ushio hurried in, slammed the door, and then propped the chair Hannah had been sitting in under the doorknob, jamming it shut.

"I wasn't planning on sitting down again anyway," Hannah said sardonically.

"Quiet," Ushio ordered, readying his shotgun.

Wilson got a good look at his expression for a moment—it was an emotion he didn't usually associate with the burly guard.

Fear.

"What's going on?" Hannah hissed. "Where's everyone else?"

"_Warning_ everyone else," Ushio told her.

"Where is the Crown Prince?" Solomon asked. "Did you find him?"

"No, we didn't, and if I had to guess, he's dead."

Solomon looked winded, and Wilson had to admit he was a tad shocked too—although he supposed that was the natural reaction to hearing that someone you knew died.

"What happened?" Hannah asked.

"We headed off looking for him," Ushio explained. "And we started heading up this pass, that leads further into the mountains—the temperature really started dropping after the first day, and then there was this blizzard and snow fog, and we were walking through this forest, and then there was this…this _thing—"_

Something snorted against the door just then.

Everyone froze.

The door did literally.

Wilson was hardly aware of his tools slipping out of nerveless fingers—he was too busy staring at the rime of frost spreading on the _inside_ of the door and wall.

Solomon was holding a darning needle like he thought it might do some good, Hannah was clinging to Ushio's back—

Ushio was pointing his shotgun at the door, hands shaking—and not just from the bitter cold seeping in.

There was a snuffling noise at the base of the door—

And then the rime of frost started travelling along the wall, following the noise….

And then scrabbling, as whatever it was _climbed onto the roof—_

A gust of furiously cold air shot down through the chimney—

Ushio leaned forward, angled the shotgun up through the opening, and fired.

The sound was deafening in the enclosed space, startling the kids awake and producing a horrible ringing in Wilson's ears. He dropped to the ground, hands clasped to his ears—

But the thing was gone, whatever it was.

One of the kids was wailing. Wilson, hardly aware of it, handed a toy over and tried to control his shaking as the ringing faded. Hannah was frantically working to calm them too, and within short order, they were asleep again. Wilson had to marvel at that.

Hannah hadn't ceased her quaking—and neither had Wilson or the other two adults, come to think of it. "Okay," she chattered, voice brittle. "What _was_ that?"

Ushio, seemingly convinced the whatever-it-was wasn't coming back, sat down heavily and rubbed his face.

"I don't know," he said finally. "This—this _thing_—we ran into it while we were looking for the Crown Prince. It's…it's a monster, that's what it is."

"Maybe it's something…native to here," Hannah said, looking at the chimney like she fully expected it to come back. She probably wasn't that far off, Wilson feared.

"I doubt it. It looked like…I don't know. It's massive—and definitely not normal. Like someone took a bear body and put deer limbs and a wolf's head on it—it's got antlers and wings and a tail, and that's about all I registered before shooting it."

"You _shot_ it?"

"It was coming after us while we were trying to fall back—"

"How close were you?" Wilson asked. A shotgun was a rare piece that was just as effective close-up as long-range—in immediate range, it blew something in half. Far off, the bullet spray scattered, covering a wide area.

Ushio looked at him. "About as far away as I am from you right now," he said. "It was pretty close."

"I am surprised you were unprofessional enough to let it get that close," Solomon said finally, still staring at the chimney.

Ushio glared at him. "I didn't have anything to do with that—there was no noise, no indication that anything was even _near_ us. Just the sound of snow falling—and then _thwump,_ that thing drops in out of nowhere."

Silence for a long time.

"This is not good," Solomon declared.

Hannah nodded. "We need to get out of here. Away from that…that…."

"Frost King," Wilson noised, staring at the frost that had refused to melt off the walls, even after he had built the fire up.

"Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Do you have a better classification? It'll hold until I come up with a good scientific name."

"Glad someone's happy about all this," Ushio growled.

"Actually, I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought at the moment."

"I'm going to need you to get over that soon," Hannah said. "And we're going to need to get everyone packed up."

"And go where?" Ushio asked. "I doubt Akenhadin changed his mind about us coming down without the Crown Prince, and he'll see a group our size coming from a mile off."

They stared; it occurred to Wilson that they had never clued the rest of the contingent in on the perils of turning back.

Ushio levelly returned their stares. "I know you view me as a bruiser, but don't insult my intelligence. It doesn't suit you people."

Hannah conceded that point. "Solomon," she said, looking to the old advizier. "How far does the Sunlit Kingdom's territory go?"

"West to the Endless Ocean," Solomon said, thinking. "South to the Burning Plains, southeast to the Shallow Seas, and east to the ravine and the jungles beyond. And north to the Great Swamp, but you knew that already."

"The foothills were dry enough," Hannah said. "So we go through that pass and down to the foothills, then east until we hit that ravine."

"The jungle might have a lot of deadly creatures living in it," Wilson pointed out.

"I'll take my chances," Hannah said. "But I'd rather avoid going into a jungle if we can. We can follow that ravine down to the Shallow Seas—we crossed the ocean; I think a sea will be a piece of cake."

"So it's settled," Ushio said, reloading his gun. "I'll go tell the others."

"You'll do that in the morning," Hannah said. "That thing might still be loitering around, and I'd much rather you be able to see it, if you have to face it."

Ushio looked at her, then conceded her point.

"Then it's settled," she said. "We leave first thing tomorrow."


	75. Wilson's Story, Part XIV: Stranded

**Chapter 75, everybody! Ooh, it looks like a landmark chapter! _And_ this marks the story's one year anniversary! :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes! And that—is an excellent question….As is that. I don't think they'll be answered just yet, but rest assured, they ****_will_**** be answered. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the 75****th ****review! Good question—but will it be answered?...Hmmm…maybe I need to improve the writing on that one? I'm not sure—I need feedback. :\ For this one? Starting today, Tuesdays and Saturdays now. Keep in mind, Bakura's a thief—and he knows where all your valuables are. And your socks. That would be nice—I'll have to hit you up again when I get some more development done in that area (Thanos and crew are being willing enough, but Glint seems to pop in, say something, and dash off before I can say "Wait, what?"). Yes, you may like this chapter—it's the last of Wilson's story! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Josh Kirby, Time Warrior ****© 1995 Moonbeam Entertainment (you know that "great jumping ions" that Wilson says occasionally? It comes from that show)**

That plan was complicated somewhat.

It had snowed a lot more than any of them had guessed. Most of the houses and igloos were buried—it had taken them upwards of an hour to dig themselves out to help the others.

And then, after getting everyone packing and the guards guarding, it occurred to them that it might have snowed at the pass down the mountain, too.

Wilson, Hannah, and Ushio trudged off to assess the damage—Wilson resolved to make some snowshoes as soon as possible; their movement was frustratingly hampered by the snow.

"I'm having a thought here," Hannah declared after a while.

"What?" Ushio asked, pausing as he had every few minutes to check their surroundings.

"What if that thing caused this snow?"

"Ridiculous," Wilson voiced quickly, before superstition could take hold. "The only thing that causes snow is cold weather."

"You'd think differently if you saw the thing," Ushio pointed out.

"We don't even _need_ to see it," Hannah said. "That frost it left was enough."

Wilson had to concede that point—the frost that had spread on the inside of the house had not yet dissipated in the heat of the fire. It was uncanny, to say the least.

They trudged on in silence for…Wilson lost track of how long, but it was beginning to get dark. Snow fog was rolling in, and a few flakes were drifting down.

And then they reached an incline.

"This is new," Hannah observed.

This…was the pass. Filled in with snow.

"We could probably climb over," Wilson said, testing the snowbank.

"We won't be able to get to the top before nightfall," Ushio observed.

"We won't be able to get back to the settlement before nightfall, either," Hannah said. "We may as well give it a shot."

* * *

The shot hurt, to be honest.

They had made torches, but the torches were guttering in the now-whipping wind. Going up was their only guide, and it was slow going—

And then they crested the snowbank.

It was black beyond the pass, visibility cut down to nothing by the fog and the wind and the driving snow. The mountain formation meant that the wind sliced straight through them—

"That wasn't there before either," Hannah clattered.

Wilson risked leaning to look down the incline—

Snow.

So much snow on the mountain now that it was probably white from afar. The wind created and destroyed a small hillock of the cold stuff as they watched—

Wilson's torch blew out.

"I think a tactical retreat is in order," Ushio suggested.

"Seconded," Wilson said, in more of a squeak.

"Thirded," Hannah said, already heading back down. The men followed, aided by the sharp wind at their backs.

* * *

Wilson could barely get the materials together for a fire, he was shaking so badly. It felt like the cold was in his bones now, and there it would stay.

Ushio stabbed his torch in the materials, using the last bit of its strength to light the bundle. Considering Wilson could hardly keep hold of the flint to light it, it was the best option available.

Visibility was still nonexistent. It was their small ring of light, then nothing.

He and Hannah huddled together, Ushio on the other side of her, feeding the fire. He was tense, Wilson noted.

"Stop acting so tough," Hannah chided. "We know you're as cold as the rest of us."

Ushio relaxed a bit, and instantly started shivering.

"T-th-this doesn't l-leave this fire," Ushio ordered.

"Whatever."

Wilson kept wringing his hands to try to return feeling to them.

"We can't leave the valley," he said suddenly, something occurring to him. "We can't go further into the mountains because we won't be able to survive that level of cold, and we can't go out the way we came—that way is suicide."

Hannah rubbed her face, focusing on her nose. Trying to avoid frostbite, Wilson guessed.

"Well," she said finally. "I guess our plotting turned around and bit us."

"Akenhadin's goons can't reach us, though."

"There _is_ that."

"I'll take wolves and bears any day," Ushio said. "At least they're straightforward about wanting to kill you."

"And people don't give you funny looks when you eat them and wear their skins."

"How barbaric," Wilson noised.

"I suppose we'll do what we've always done," Hannah sighed. "Survive by the skin of our teeth."

"Pale Skins are good at that," Ushio observed.

Wilson opened his mouth to retort—

_Thump_.

That sudden sound in the snowy silence prompted everyone to turn.

"Snow must have fallen off a branch," Wilson guessed.

"Maybe," Ushio said, readying his gun. "But that was the same sound that thing made."

Wilson and Hannah stood with him, glancing around. They were being silly, Wilson thought—they'd be fine—

_Oh great jumping ions._

Something bear-sized with antlers was skulking about just outside his range of vision. He wouldn't have picked it out, but for the movement—

And the small flame of blue light coming out of the thing's forehead.

Ushio aimed—

"Don't," Wilson said suddenly. "You shoot, and you'll bring the mountain down on us."

"And if I don't, that thing gets us," Ushio said.

The thing looked at Ushio—at least, the head tilted in his direction—and snorted, sending a gust of cold air at them.

And then it left.

Wilson was aware of the fact that he was clinging tightly to Hannah. He felt marginally better about the fact that she was doing the same thing. "W-was that it?" Hannah asked.

"Yes," Ushio said shortly.

Wilson was shaking so hard he was barely intelligible. "I-I-I thought y-you said you s-sh-shot that thing."

"I did. The bullets froze in the air, and they didn't penetrate the fur around its neck."

"You're not saying it's bulletproof."

"If I could get a potshot at it, maybe not."

"You _had_ a potshot at it, and it didn't work."

Silence.

"We're stuck up here with that thing," Hannah said finally.

Silence.

When morning came, they made their way back to camp, only Wilson's compass keeping them straight in the fresh snow. Once there, they broke the bad news to the rest of them. They were stuck.

And so the Pale Skins did what Pale Skins did best—cling on by the skin of their teeth, trying to stay positive in the face of dwindling supplies and numbers….

And then one day, Brother Prince Yugi got lost in a blizzard.

And befriended the Frost King.


	76. Back to the Present

**Chapter 76, everybody! In which we finally—****_finally_****—get back to the present, where Wilson and Yugi are walking in the desert….And Fromtheashtrees, we're finally seeing the reaction you pictured back in Chapter 19—Yugi's reaction to being related to the Frost King. :D**

**For those who wonder, what Yugi says to Wilson about believing something wholly comes from my Mom, and has quite a bit of truth to it: if you only believe in the good, then you don't believe in the bad, which can mean that the Source Material that references both good and bad as occurring isn't fully believed in, which leads into all sorts of problems.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, yes we are—it took long enough. Yeah, me too—I had to go back and reread a bunch of chapters so I knew where I was going to be. That—is actually a very good summary of events. I think you need to write my loglines from now on. :) Good question…we shall see….And thank you! I'm glad the new schedule pleases. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, one would hope—or maybe I should go through everything again to be sure *dodges brick* Where do these bricks keep coming from?...Bummer—play those games during your break. Yes, it's very good—and thank you for that clarification. I was a little confused by your review on ****_The Magicians' Realm_****—I was actually expecting you to be reading it on a Wednesday, considering I was pretty close to midnight in submitting it. Oh good—****_Bakura! Ash says steal whatever you want! _*****ahem* Yes, unwilling characters are a pain—I've finally resorted to telling Glint that if he doesn't shape up and show up, I'm changing the name of the show to ****_Thanos and the Bounty Hunters_****. Just don't tell Keno—he'd have t-shirts made up before I could tell him otherwise. :\**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! Yup—"And that's the way it was." Just a bit. And true….And don't worry about it—school first. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Calvin and Hobbes © 1985 Bill Watterson (Wilson's response to Yugi is Hobbes' take on…you know)**

**The Mikado © 1885 Gilbert and Sullivan (can you guess which line Wilson knows?)**

The moon had almost set, nearly to the pitch black of pre-dawn, when Wilson finished.

When he did, he couldn't help but watch Yugi's reaction.

Fortunately, he could manage to hold in the first instinct to laugh at his expression—it was somewhere amongst the emotions of confusion, horror, understanding, and a few other ones Wilson couldn't immediately identify.

Finally, Yugi spoke.

"Yami's…my _cousin?"_

Wilson really wasn't expecting Yugi to fixate on that point. "I…have no idea," Wilson said, shrugging. "As far as we know, Crown Prince Yami is a skeleton at the bottom of a ravine."

"No, wait, it fits!" Yugi exclaimed. "_That_ Yami goes missing, and then a few days later, _our_ Yami shows up."

"And how would you explain this odd metamorphosis?"

"Magic," Yugi decided.

Wilson scoffed at the notion.

"How do _you_ explain it then?" Yugi asked.

"I'm refraining from hypothesizing at the moment," Wilson replied.

Yugi was silent for a long time.

"I'm sorry," he said finally.

"What?" Wilson asked, not sure where this was coming from.

"I'm sorry Joey and Tristan and I screwed things up for you. Now they know…." Yugi gesticulated a bit, words failing him. "They're going to go and attack everyone now."

Ah. "To be fair, I was going to cause my own stir there—apparently they have some sort of divining rod that can find anything. I was entertaining a notion to take it and settle some theories I've been formulating."

"So you _do_ think our Yami is their Yami."

"I'm saying nothing."

Yugi looked like he was on the border of remembering something, and then his expression shifted as it clicked. "The Millennium Ring," he said finally. "Not a rod—a ring."

"What?"

"While you guys were taking your time in rescuing me—"

"Cheers. You'd have rather we killed ourselves?"

"No. But this skirt-guy—what's his name…Mikado?"

"I think you mean Mahado," Wilson said, remembering the distrustful, dry advizier. "_The Mikado_ was a play."

"What's it about?"

"No idea—I only ever knew one line."

"Anyway, he shows me this symbol—an eye—and it looks just like the one on Yami's forehead—what do you call that, cora—corroborating? Corroborating evidence."

"You're still not getting an answer out of me."

"Anyway, he talks about these items that are a symbol of the hoity-toity's power—I was only listening because of that eye-thing—and he says they're magic. And that the ring can find anything its user wants."

"I stand by my earlier stance," Wilson stated. "But yes, that was what I was after."

"You can't do that."

"I'm sorry?"

"You can't believe in one tiny piece without believing in the whole thing. It's like believing in God and good and not believing in…you know. You have to believe that both exist."

Wilson had to concede that point. "To be fair, I think man gets himself into enough trouble without the extra help," he stated.

Yugi was shivering—it was cold, Wilson had to admit, and Yugi had left most of his thicker clothes at Rae's. The sand leeching the heat from them didn't help.

"Here," Wilson said, wrapping his cloak around Yugi. The wind had picked up enough that he doubted they could find them. Unless, of course, the stories about that ring were true….

Yugi stared at the dark splotch, left there by the assassin. "Ah, yes, well…." Wilson coughed, a tad uncomfortable about the topic. "Come along."

They continued on.

"What are we doing now?" Yugi asked.

"We're heading back to Frostmore," Wilson sighed. "If Yami—_our_ Yami, I suppose—is still alive, then maybe he can control the snow enough to let us leave."

"And if he can't? You said you didn't know if he could control it."

"It's worth a shot."

Yugi was stumbling now, exhausted—Wilson figured Yugi had probably not slept well the past several days, and he most certainly wasn't used to it like Wilson was.

"Here," Wilson said, kneeling in front of him. "Arms around my neck—there."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Progress through the sand was difficult with the extra weight on his back, but it was better than stopping every five minutes to keep Yugi upright.

Yugi muttered something. "What's that?" Wilson asked.

"I'm sorry," Yugi murmured, nearly asleep. "For doubting you."

Wilson blinked. That…he wasn't expecting that.

"I'm sorry too," Wilson said, continuing on. "For giving you reason to."

He focused on putting one foot in front of the other, travelling through the shifting sands.

He had a long night still ahead of him.


	77. Reunion

**Chapter 77, everybody! In which we find out how our Frost King fared….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, he does—it may be an oversaturation of weirdness being dumped on him all at once, but I think being dead-tired didn't help much. :) Good question—and good question; despite filling us in, Wilson's still being rather secretive….**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! Yeah, it's a little fluffy (but not as fluffy as the Frost King :D). Yes, there's a brain under that spiky hair. :D Yes, there's still going to be problems—or as these guys term it, a normal Tuesday. Get some sleep—you'll feel better. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Good question, and one we will soon find the answer to. I think I've heard of it on DeviantArt (which is how I heard of ****_Don't Starve_****), and it does look good. I do recommend investing in ****_Don't Starve_**** and its subsidiaries….Maybe ("I want Wilson for Christmas…"). Well, it was close to midnight here when I submitted it, so that may be why. I can hear Bakura now…. "What am I supposed to do with a broken thermometer?" Actually, that sounded pretty close….****_Ack! Bakura! What are you doing in my house!?_**** *ahem* It would, to be honest, but at least the threat got two pages out of Glint….It's weird—Thanos, I love you, and I'm glad you're being so supportive and…open, and I know that a good antagonist makes a show…but you're also supposed to be mysterious, and yet you're telling me all this stuff! ****_Why!?_****...You don't want me to mess things up? What's ****_that_**** supposed to mean?**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Calvin and Hobbes ****© 1985 Bill Watterson (Wilson uses a quote from them at the end)**

Yugi woke up a little after sunrise, which was just as well, considering Wilson's spine was about to telescope. At some point, Yugi had grown up some. Probably when he wasn't looking—kids were like that.

A little after noon—Wilson had been right on the dot with his guess—they crested the final dune to see Rae's cabin, the boys bustling to finish up the sled. Let's see, where was—

"Willow!"

Yugi was suddenly running pell-mell down the dune, unmindful of the burrs that grew near the base, across the grass before Wilson could blink. Wilson ran after him, longer legs enabling him to catch up quickly despite fatigue.

Because Willow had spotted them too, and she was running for them, arms outstretched.

She hit Yugi first, knocking him to the ground with the ferocity of her hug. Wilson was worried she'd break Yugi in half, and then noted he was returning the hug with equal intensity. Well, maybe his suspicion about them wasn't unfounded after all.

"What about me?" Wilson asked, kneeling next to them.

Willow hugged him too, so tight around the neck that he had to remind her that he needed to be able to breathe, and then both of them together, to the point that Wilson gave up on the necessity of air.

"You need a shave," Yugi observed, grinning.

"I need a lot of things," Wilson said.

And then Joey and Tristan ran over and tackled Yugi, leaving Willow free to continue squeezing the life out of Wilson, Serenity was crying—

And then Rae was standing over him, arms crossed and a smirk on her face.

"Finally!" she stated. "I thought you'd never get back."

Wilson would have tried smoothing his appearance out, except for the fact that his arms were still effectively pinned by Willow. Not that he minded—he had missed her, and it was nice to know he had been missed in return. Even if he _had_ been second.

"Now, Miss Rae," Wilson said. "Am I to understand that you _missed_ me?"

"No," Rae said. "And the next time I aim at you, I'm dispensing of the pleasantries and just shooting you outright. Nope—with you here, that means I get my land to myself again."

"She missed you," Willow said. "I know—you can see it in her eyes."

Right now Wilson saw aggravation in her eyes, but he wasn't going to comment. "Go finish getting ready," he said, finally managing to extricate himself from the hug. The younger generation dispersed as he stood up.

"Those boys came here this morning," Rae said as Wilson dusted himself off. "And said they had to get ready to go. I take it everything went well? Ish?"

"Not even close," Wilson groused, straightening out his clothes. "I didn't get their dowsing device—we were too busy cleaning up the mess those boys made. On the positive side, Frostmore is getting its much-needed rescue."

"How's Yami?" Yugi asked, halfway between them and the springhouse.

"You'll have to see for yourself," Willow said soberly. Ah.

"Do I dare ask how things went here?" Wilson asked.

"Well—"

They had reached the springhouse and opened the door. "Yami?" Willow called down. "Someone's here to see you!"

Yugi was already halfway down the steps. "Yami—_ouff!"_

And with a flurry of snow, Yugi was back out, a perfectly healthy Frost King on top.

"I think things have gone all right here," Rae observed.

Wilson froze, stunned, then ran forward—it looked like Yami was mauling Yugi, and that made his stomach curdle with fear.

But no—Yami was showing affection very much like Chester had, rubbing his face against Yugi and…_blech,_ licking his face—leaving Yugi covered with a fine layer of frost and squirming and laughing. Apparently, it tickled. Willow was laughing at his discomfort.

"Get off of him," Wilson ordered. "He needs to be able to breathe!"

Yami looked up at him, eyes clear. "Wilson! Your face looks funny," he observed.

That made twice now—Wilson scratched his face to find that yes, he had neglected to shave and had some stubble now. "I'll tend to that. Now stop squishing Yugi—it isn't healthy."

Yami rocked back, still with that boundless, happy-dog enthusiasm, allowing Yugi to sit up and recover.

"Magic" reasoning aside, this in front of him was why he was hesitant to say that the Frost King was the Crown Prince—they were simply too dissimilar, not in appearance, but in attitude. But it bore the question….

"How?" Wilson asked, looking to Rae—who had walked over to him—and gesturing at Yami.

"She makes ice," Yami said.

"Do what?"

"You might find the process fascinating," Rae said. "It involves ammonia and metal bowls."

"She scienced it," Willow said.

"Ah," Wilson noised. "I approve."

"Perfect!" Rae said. "Well then, Willow, you get those ice packs and sling them on Yami, and then you all and your Frost King are out the door! Sayonara, it was nice knowing you!"

And now the part he had been dreading. "Ah, but Miss Rae, we enjoy your company so."

"You'll get over it."

"Perhaps I'm being obtuse—you need to come with us."

"You should come," Yami said, nodding so furiously that he was shedding snow. "It's really cool up on the mountain—you'd like it."

"Correction: It's really _cold_ up on the mountain," Rae said. "And no, I would not."

"You wouldn't like the heat coming here," Wilson informed her. "The royals are aware we still survive, and therefore will be sending a military contingent to repair that oversight—and the straight shot passes right through your land."

Rae blinked. Once. Twice.

Wilson nodded before continuing. "Yes, I can see how this might be an issue—"

Rae socked him one. Yay, now he had a matching set of black eyes.

_"Hey!"_ Willow, Yami and Yugi shouted.

"_You,"_ Rae snarled. "You…you sunnova—"

"Language, Miss Rae," Wilson chided, glancing at their audience.

Rae followed suit before rounding back on him.

"You led those torch-happy goons _here?"_ she yelled. "I oughta kick your a_aaaaaaaaaaaa…_scot," she managed, glancing at the audience again. Willow and Yugi looked upset, and Yami was bristling—maybe she was more worried that Yami would freeze her if she hit Wilson again.

"We can make it look like no one lives here," Wilson said. "They know Newport is abandoned—there's no reason for them to think otherwise here, if we can make it work."

Rae looked like she was going to argue the point, then flapped her hands angrily at him and stormed off.

"Why is Rae upset?" Yami asked.

Wilson rubbed his face. Ow. "Rae was up a mite too late packing, you see," he said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and try to freshen up somewhat."


	78. Rae's Dilemma

**Chapter 78, everybody! In which Wilson shaves…his observation in the first paragraph is based on a saying my grandmother was fond of, by the way. :) And the ship mentioned is named after my sloop in the game ****_Pirates of the Caribbean Online_****, which was regrettably discontinued and shut down—****_why, Disney, why!?_**

***ahem* Anywho….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, it is! And yes he is—like an oversized Labrador Retriever. "I just met you and I ****_love _****you!" :D Definitely—Rae loves to hate Wilson, and Wilson hates to get hit. :D**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! Well, to be honest, it was bound to happen sooner or later—at least right now he's not in danger of rolling down a mountain in an ever-growing snowball. ;) Probably not necessary, yes, but it ****_is_**** their fault somewhat for kicking a hornets' nest—and she couldn't really get away with hitting one of the kids. Rae is…a Bradbury-Orwell, someone in charge of protecting a culture's literary and artistic achievements (not to be confused with a Monuments Man, whose job is to track down cultural artefacts and protect them). Her job makes more sense if you've ever read Ray Bradbury's ****_Fahrenheit 451_**** or George Orwell's ****_1984_****. From a copyright perspective, Rae is an original character, and is generally used when I have an extra role to fill that wouldn't fit someone from one of the franchises. Yes, Yami is ****_back!_**** :D And back to his old self. To be fair to Wilson, he was standing at a bad angle, so the action wasn't clear (and I think there's still that level of distrust there). Yes, he does—maybe Wilson was worried about an Elmyra-level love there. *~***

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! There's something there, I know it! Look again! I'll check into it (I do have two different antivirus programs on this thing, so everything ****_should_**** be all right). It'll give a clearer picture of Wilson and Willow, considering I kind of skimped on describing the main characters in this (I need to work on descriptions T-T). Use it as a projectile weapon (or maybe a spider-squisher—it's got a flat bottom, right?). At least there's that—I just got another page of script for the revised pilot done, but it was a bit like pulling teeth. And there Thanos goes again, poking me with more story ideas….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Sweeny Todd © 1979 Stephen Sondheim (although the character originated in penny dreadfuls in the late 1800s)**

**Pirates of the Caribbean Online © 2007 Disney**

Wilson found Rae's bathroom—it was the same room as her bedroom, but with a curtain partition for when privacy was necessary. No indoor plumbing—ah, but she didn't have a resident gentleman scientist to rig it for her. He couldn't help but quirk a small smile as he noted that she had both a pot and a window to throw it out of—oi, he needed sleep.

He poured some water from the pitcher into the washbasin, grabbed a bar of soap and a washcloth, and set to cleaning his face to ascertain the damage. His nose had avoided damage both times, thank goodness, but his cheek felt bruised to the bone from Joey's hit and he was certain he'd look like a raccoon for several days afterwards. He was surprised no one had commented on that—or maybe he just looked tired.

He pulled his razor out after lathering his face and set to making himself look presentable again. He had always kept himself clean-shaven, and he had no intention of quitting now.

Granted, he mused as he worked, a beard probably would have kept him warmer up in the mountains, but he had an image of gentlemanly air to preserve, and he would not achieve that by looking like a crazed mountain man. Although, come to think of it, classical scientists had beards….Maybe when he was older and going grey. Then he could stroke it and look all official.

He heard a floorboard creak but didn't look around—Rae's mirror was a simple oval affair, but she had positioned it in such a way that he could see the whole room and the door from here.

Hence, he didn't have to turn to see that it was Rae.

"Have you worked it out of your system yet?" he asked, rinsing his razor off.

Rae didn't answer, instead moving over to her rather large bed.

"What is that?" she asked finally. "A straight razor?"

"I like it."

"You look like Sweeney Todd with that thing."

_Sweeney Todd_ must have been one of the pieces she was guarding. He was familiar with it, oddly enough. "So long as you don't try to slit my throat, we'll be just fine."

"I don't think you'd make a good pie," she replied, sitting down. He was surprised the bed didn't combust from the contact, she was fuming so much.

Something occurred to him then, a memory triggered by his recounting to Yugi last night. "I don't suppose you know the name of the ship you and your parents came over on, do you?"

Rae looked at him, unsure as to what he could mean. "The _Starchaser_, I think. Why?"

"I think we might have crossed paths before—that was the ship I was on."

"I think I would have remembered that hair."

"It _is_ distinctive."

Conversation floundered and died then. Wilson focused on cleaning his razor.

"I can't go," she said finally. "I don't have any clothes for that level of cold—it doesn't get much past tepid here."

"Now, if you came over on the _Starchaser_, then you know that Newport has plenty of supplies—I'm sure we can find you some thicker wear. Or at least, layers of clothing."

"I have animals."

"I'm sure they'll be fine if we set them loose elsewhere."

"They'll get eaten."

"I'll help you get some new ones."

"Listen, _pal_, these aren't—they're not _livestock_."

He blinked, looked at her in the mirror. She had her face in her hands.

"They're—I've had them for _years_," she said. "I mean, you wouldn't expect a chicken to be that long-lived…."

Something occurred to him then. "Your parents."

"Are planted by the garden."

"Oh. _Oh."_

He didn't know why he felt surprised—it was obvious she had been living by herself, and that she had had family prior…."When, if you don't mind me asking?"

He watched her tabulate, then gesture helplessly. "I don't know now."

So her animals had been her only companions for forever. And she had probably promised on her parents' deathbeds to protect the Bradbury-Orwell horde beneath them.

And here they had come and trampled through her life and sent it into upheaval.

_Well, don't you feel low,_ Wilson thought to himself, drying his razor. He folded it and pocketed it with careful precision, wiped his face down one last time.

And then he turned to her, walked over, and kneeled in front of her, gently touching a knee to get her to look up.

"We're going to help you," he solemnly swore. "We'll rig everything up so they don't even bother the place. And I'll do everything I can to keep your animals safe. I'll even come back here when everything's been resolved and help you track them down. And install some proper indoor plumbing for you."

She was glaring listlessly at him now.

"I'd like that," she said finally.


	79. Storeroom Conversation

**Chapter 79, everybody! In which the contents of my family's storeroom are transferred to Rae's for the time being….And yes, you can can ****_everything. _****And the chickens Yami names are ones that a hawk killed this year—stupid varmint. On the positive side, they live on in stories, our hearts, and chicken Heaven.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! No, Rae's not good at expressing feelings….And she kind of has no choice in the matter, for the reason you said. And I'm not sure if she has much in the way of feelings for Wilson at the moment, considering she's only really known him for a day….And good question….**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! Yes, it's a great book—one of my favorites by Ray Bradbury, and I think the…second one of his I ever read (the first being the short story "The Pedestrian"). I think part of my love for it comes from the sheer irony my first reading of it had, as it was heavily censored by the college I was attending at the time. -_- But Bradbury does have a talent for making stories that really speak to the reader (definitely one of my favorite authors). He is! The gentleman scientist has a soft spot after all! :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, he's very proud of himself—"And a check mark for Tuesday!" True….And oh good—I already had one fall in a heap this year (the cruddy Dell—I'm told it died of old age), so a second wouldn't be good. ;-; It ****_is_**** fun—although you will die multiple times, from dogs, from weather, from poorly-timed giants, and occasionally from just plain stupidity (a couple of memorable deaths for me involved trying to weave through a cluster of killer bee hives at night and wandering through a Beefalo herd without checking to see if they were hostile first :O). It could still work—you could Guybrush Threepwood it ("Combine Galileo Thermometer with Broom"). True…and it could get worse—Murphy's Law could come into play. But they're being somewhat cooperative, so at least there's that….Think positive! "I must succeed!" \^^/**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi and Willow were in the storeroom as the others busied themselves with making the place look abandoned. Wilson was helping Rae store all her items away and take the glass out of the windows—Joey and Tristan's offer to break them had been returned with the offer to break their noses. Instead, those two were in the garden, using the scythe and sickle they had stolen to cut the crops down.

Yugi and Willow, meanwhile, had been given free rein to pick everything and anything from the storeroom to pack, and they were attending to it with gusto.

"Hey, look Yami!" Yugi said, pointing to a whole section of shelf. "Soup! All the soup you can eat!"

Yami was in the storeroom as well—it was several degrees colder than it had been before, thanks to all the ice the girls had stuffed in there, and the general consensus was that Yami needed to stay in there for as long as possible. Yami didn't seem to mind—he was back to his old self, which was the best thing that could have possibly happened, in Yugi's opinion. He hadn't realized that the possibility of Yami dying was weighing on him so much.

But then again, he hadn't known a lot of things were important to him until he had lost them.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Yugi declared as he took an armload of soup-filled jars and put them on the stairs—huh. The lids said _soup_, but the jars said _Mason_—and both in that weird curving looping writing that Wilson used. "But I can't wait to get back to Frostmore—I miss Mom."

"I miss being able to pelt Wilson with snowballs," Willow said. "It's just not the same with sand."

Yugi nodded sagely. "It gets in your eyes too easily."

"What's sand?" Yami asked—yup, back to his old self—and hovering annoyingly close to Yugi; Yugi had been forced to put his cold-weather clothes back on from the proximity Yami was maintaining, although he supposed that was a positive sign.

"Loose slippery stuff that squeaks when you walk on it," Yugi said, tipping another jar to read the top. "What are collards?"

"They look like vegetables," Willow observed. "Put them back."

"What's wrong with vegetables?"

"Adults think they're good for us."

"Aren't they?" Yami asked.

"We can take _one_," Yugi suggested. "And if _we_ don't like it, we can give them to Yami."

"And then you can find out how icky vegetables are!" Willow told Yami brightly.

"What's icky?" Yami asked.

Yugi and Willow exchanged glances.

"This expression," Yugi decided on finally, making one of absolute disgust.

Yami perked up at that definition. "Hey, I've done that before!"

"What did you do?" Willow asked, looking at a jar of lima beans. "Eat yellow snow?"

_That_ prompted the _ick_ expression from Yugi again.

"No, of course not!" Yami said, shaking his head—Yugi silently sent Willow a _yes he must have_ look; _wow,_ he had missed that. "The wolves invited me to have some of their kill once—never eat raw meat, by the way. It's yucky and slippery and _gaack!"_

Yami made an expression Yugi had only seen before on Chester, when the old dog was getting ready to throw up. It was enough to make Yugi retreat several steps, in case Yami actually followed through on that action. He didn't, thank goodness.

"How did the wolves feel about you throwing up on their food?" Willow asked, interpreting the expression in the same way.

"They laughed," Yami explained. "I don't know why—it wasn't that funny."

"Some…people," Yugi decided to say. "Have a weird sense of humor. Hey, did I tell you guys? Those people made me wear a dress."

"You're kidding," Willow said.

"Nope—an actual dress."

"What's a dress?" Yami asked.

"It's what girls wear," Yugi said. "When they're not in cold weather," he amended, realizing that really nobody outside the Sunlit Kingdom wore one. At least, not that he had seen.

"Not all girls," Willow said. "You couldn't catch me dead in one."

"I don't know, I think you could pull it off."

"I _do_ have the legs for it. Unlike you."

Yugi laughed as he carried an armload of jars up the steps, Willow following him in similar straights. Ah, he had missed this.

He deposited the jars by Serenity, who was carefully packing everything back on the sled.

"Remind me to never let Joey and Tristan do this again," she told them. "They nearly broke a lot of stuff!"

"You're looking better," Yugi observed.

"Rae worked us to death," Willow said, depositing her armload of jars. Yami was right behind her.

"I learned a lot here!" Serenity said, beaming.

"Like how to make ice," Yami pointed out.

"You should get back in the springhouse," Yugi told him. "Remember? You're still recovering."

"What's recovering?"

"Getting better," Yugi explained. He looked around to see where everyone else was as far as getting ready and getting out of here—there was Rae and Wilson over by her livestock. She looked like she was talking to them.

It occurred to Yugi then that Rae was doing just what they had done when they had left Frostmore, only this wasn't by her choice. This must have been hard on her.

Yami tipped his head, then walked over to the pine sapling. It had grown somewhat since Yugi had left.

"Lief's kid is doing good," Yugi observed, wanting to focus on something else.

"Yeah, Erikson is really shooting up," Willow said. "Come on—let's keep packing."

Yugi paused by the entrance to the springhouse long enough to hear Yami talking to the tree.

"—And I want you to keep an extra good eye on the birds. Rae made sure to introduce me to all of them, so you take care of them, okay? Their names are Eagle and Pearl and Speckle and—"

Yugi walked into the springhouse. "Rae introduced Yami to her chickens?" he asked.

"Yeah," Willow said, pulling out some jerky. "Yami heard clucking one day and asked her what it was. And then instead of just telling him it's a chicken, she goes and brings every single one down, one at a time, and introduces them all."

Yugi had the feeling her chickens were to her like Chester was to Wilson. "I guess it kept him occupied longer," Yugi posed as they took another armload of supplies up the stairs.

"Yeah."

Yami was still chattering away. "—And the cows are named Bessie and Belle and Big John, but I think they can take care of themselves. You ought to check up on them anyway—"

"She showed him the cows too," Willow explained. "But she took him out to see them."

"And here I was entertaining the notion of cows on steps," Yugi said. "Are we going to have enough room on the sled?"

"We'll be walking, I think," Willow said. "We don't want to tax our favorite Frost King."

"He's the only Frost King we know."

"All the more reason to un-tax him."

"Speaking of," Yugi said, then turned to call to Yami. "Yami! Don't talk the tree to death! You know how that goes!"

Yami glanced over before telling the tree a few more things.

"Do you think Yami talks to all trees, or only the ones that stand up?" Willow asked.

"Nothing would ever bother Rae's ranch again," Yugi pointed out.

"Can we not talk about walking trees?" Serenity asked, shivering.

"Hey you three!" Wilson called over. "Hop to! There's work to be done!"

They hopped to.


	80. Nighttime Confrontation

**Chapter 80, everybody! In which Biblical quotes are mentioned, Yami sings and exhibits emotion, and has apparently come and paid me a visit as well. ****_Yami! Get back in your story so the weather can go back to being warm! _****And so the buffer stays buffed.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, they shall always be remembered (I miss them terribly, but putting them in the story helped). Yes, but I think Yugi is pretty cute in about ninety-percent of what he does (curse that baby-panda-ness XD). Yami…he's laughable when he's trying to be cute. I have too (and worse, I've had to clean it up afterwards because Mom has no stomach for it), but when I wrote that scene, that was the expression Yami used. Yes it is—****_the Frost King is back!_**** \^^/**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes…and Eagle and Pearl were two of our absolute favorites, too—but at least they live on in art and word format (and chicken Heaven). True, but this puts getting a Cintiq tablet on the backburner for the time being (that was the next big purchase, as I think I'm wearing a hole in the Wacom). Our topics do tend to do that, don't they? I do like to research a game before I invest in it, so I definitely will (and ooh, shiny art is always a plus :D). *puts check ****_League of Legends _****wiki on to-do list* It may have to wait until after my comprehensive examination, though. :-\ The best way to die in video games is stupidly—that's why game developers refer to players as "agents of chaos" (which will be their official term in CCI, if I ever get that going again). True…and good! Keep at it! Hunt that inspiration down! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**"****Mail Myself to You" © 1962 Woody Guthrie ("I'm gonna wrap myself in paper…")**

**Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer © 1964 Rankin/Bass Productions ("Jingle-jingle-jingle…")**

Rae's ranch was thoroughly robbed of life by nightfall, and with that done, they left for Newport. It would be dangerous going at night, but with the moon still full, they could risk it.

It helped that Yami didn't seem perturbed by the cooler night. He was back to old form, trotting along with the sled slipping on makeshift wheels Wilson had tacked on. He had been explicitly told to keep to everyone's walking pace, lest he rip the wheels off the sled. This had the added bonus of keeping Yami from exerting himself—even with the ice-packs on him, the warmer weather would still be a problem for him.

Yugi and Willow were on either side of him, Yugi relegating his experiences to them. Joey and Tristan flanked the sled, Serenity walking beside her brother. It was heartening to know she had improved so much.

Wilson and Rae took up the rear, Rae pausing every few minutes to look back.

Finally, Wilson took her hand and led her back to the sled.

"Remember Lot's wife," he told her.

Yugi wasn't sure who that was, but the warning sent a shiver up his spine and prompted a salty taste in his mouth. Rae stiffened, but didn't look back after that. She didn't let go of Wilson's hand, either.

"Told you," Willow said.

Yugi relegated Wilson's statement into the _things to ask Wilson later_ file and looked at Willow. "That doesn't mean anything."

"What doesn't?" Yami asked.

"Don't tell him," Yugi said.

"Why not?"

"Because it's a secret."

"I can keep a secret—I'm really good at keeping secrets."

"Really?" Willow asked. "Name one."

"I can't tell you—it's a secret."

"They'd both slap us upside the head," Yugi said. "I'm not ready for that."

Willow nodded. "Rae doesn't strike me as the sort to hold back when she hits."

"I like Rae," Yami declared. "She's nice. She taught me some new songs—you wanna hear?"

"Sure," Yugi said, glad for the distraction.

"All right." Yami cleared his throat, then started on a little ditty. _"I'm gonna wrap myself in paper, I'm gonna dab myself with glue, stick some stamps on the top of my head, and I'm-a gonna mail myself to you."_

Yugi looked to Willow, confused.

Willow was laughing. "You should have been there," she told him. "She had to stop and explain every third word."

"She did," Yami agreed. "But now I know what glue is. Want me to tell you?"

* * *

_"Jingle jingle jingle—when you hear my sleigh bells ring…."_

"Did you teach him _nothing_ but Christmas carols?" Wilson asked, sounding exasperated.

Yugi glanced back in time to see Rae gesture to Yami. "I look at him, I see snow," she explained. "I think snow, I think Christmas. It just happened."

Wilson looked like he was having a major headache. Yugi smiled in sympathy, turning to look ahead again. It was nice that Yami had expanded his repertoire somewhat—to be honest, Yugi had been getting tired of "Jingle Bells."

_"You must believe that on Christmas Eve,"_ Yami continued, oblivious to anyone else's grief. "_I won't pass you by, I'll dash away in my magic sleigh, flying through the—"_

Yugi glanced up at Yami's abrupt stop, in both his singing and his walking.

There were buildings ahead.

Yugi looked back to Wilson.

"Ah," Wilson noised. "We're here."

"This is Newport?" Yugi asked, looking back. There was something vaguely…dead…and creepy about the place.

"It is," Wilson said, walking ahead. "Come on already—it's almost dawn."

"But there are people there," Yami said.

_That_ made Wilson pause and turn. "What?"

"There are people in there," Yami repeated, then looked at Yugi. "And you said I shouldn't let people see me."

"You shouldn't," Yugi said.

"Stay here," Wilson said, holding a hand behind him. Yugi was more inclined to obey now. "Miss Rae, I assume you're armed to the teeth—would you accompany me, please?"

Rae did so, flicking her light coat back as she did—Yugi caught a glimpse of a handgun in its holster.

"You _do_ know what it means to assume, don't you?" she asked Wilson as they walked away.

"I've heard it, yes," Wilson said, turning and holding his hand up to the rest of them.

"Don't follow," he ordered. "We'll be back to tell you if it's safe or not. If we _don't_ come back, then at noon I want you to head for the hills. If you come in after us, I will have Miss Rae shoot you. Are we clear?"

They nodded, and Rae and Wilson left.

Yami shuffled a bit before sitting down. Yugi kicked the dirt, a little worriedly. This was going to be a long wait.

"You want to try some jerky?" Willow asked after a while, sitting cross-legged in front of Yami and playing with her lighter. Yami had been watching her actions, fascinated—at least someone wasn't getting bored.

"What's jerky?" Yami asked.

"It's meat that's been dried so it lasts longer. And it's salty."

"What's salty?"

"The jerky is."

"Do you know what salt is?" Yugi asked, sitting down.

"I think the deer might have mentioned it once," Yami said, thinking.

Joey walked past them, bow in his hand and quiver on his back. "Where are you going?" Yugi asked. "Wilson told us to wait here. I don't want Rae to shoot me."

"I'm not going to do anything stupid," Joey said. "I learned my lesson. I'm going in there and finding a perch so if they _need_ help, I can give it to them."

Tristan followed. "I'm going to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," he said, pointing at Joey.

"Don't make me shoot _you."_

Yugi sighed.

"It was nice knowing them," Willow said.

Serenity ran after them.

"No! Serenity! Wait!" Yugi yelped, running after her.

"Yugi!" Willow called, running after him as well.

The jingling of bells told him that the remaining member of their party wasn't about to stay put either.

"_No_, Yami," Yugi said, rounding on Yami. "They _might_ shoot us—they _will_ shoot you."

"I'm not being left behind again," Yami said, with more authority than Yugi would have given him credit for.

Yugi blinked. "We didn't leave you behind—we couldn't take you to the Sunlit Kingdom. You would have _died_."

"You were going to leave me behind on the mountain."

Yugi blinked again, then looked down. That…was true. If they all left, then Yami would be by himself on the mountain. Granted, he was alone before…but now that would be much worse for him.

He looked to Willow for support—

And then froze, something occurring to him.

Wilson's story….

If Yami the Frost King was Yami the Crown Prince, then he _could_ survive off the mountain. That Millennium Puzzle, or that Frozen Heart—if they could get a hold of one of those, then maybe its magic would let him survive away from snow!

He would have to fill in Willow later, but in the meantime he flashed her his _I've got an idea_ look before looking back to Yami, who was still glaring sternly at him—not exactly an expression he associated with him. But then again, he was probably upset and hurt at the whole thing.

Yugi had been too, when he thought he had lost his friends for good.

"Listen," Yugi said sternly. "Yes, we were—because we didn't want you to die in this weather. And you would have. You _do_ know what that means, yes?"

"Yes," Yami said. "I'm not stupid."

Yugi had been expecting Yami to ask _what's death?_, but he supposed he would know considering he had been around wolves. "We would have rather known you were alive and safe than dead and buried. _But,_" he said quickly, cutting off Yami's objection. "While we were in the Sunlit Kingdom, we heard about this thing that might let you live in the heat—it's somewhere up in the mountains, and if we can get _that_, then you _could_ come with us when we leave Frostmore for good."

Yami stopped scowling, instantly switching over to curious, ears pricked forward. "Really?"

"Really?" Willow echoed.

Probably. "Yeah," Yugi said. "That's, uh, why Rae's coming. She probably read about this stuff." Probably.

Yami looked at Newport. "Then shouldn't we make sure she's all right?"

Yugi looked at the buildings, that could be hiding any number of baddies in the pre-dawn gloom—

Willow caught his eye. _I've got an idea._

"I bet those people in there have never seen a Frost King before," she said slowly.

Yugi nodded, catching the gist quickly. "It'd scare the bejeebies out of them."

"What are bejeebies?" Yami asked.

"Later. Listen, we've got a new game for you to play…."


	81. Negotiations

**Chapter 81, everybody! In which we shoot at people and the writer goes into a food coma from a really good pasta dish her father cooked….And Yami apes Olaf from _Frozen_: "So who's the reindeer?"**

**In the original draft, Rae suggests an insult for a certain thief, but while inoffensive to my American sensibilities, I knew that it had a stronger connotation in its originating region, so I changed it last minute. I think the minor edit fits the characters just as well, and I don't run the risk of insulting anyone that way. :)**

**By the by, a Night Judge is a real handgun that really does shoot shotgun shells****—my father bought one for my mother for her birthday last year.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review, and congrats on being the ninetieth reviewer! :D Yes, it's good that he's expanded his catalogue somewhat ("Jingle Bells" three hours in a row probably isn't good for Wilson's sanity). Yes, he has suspicions he's willing to act upon….But Rae worked really hard to get "trigger-happy" put on her resume….And yes, scaring the bejeebies out of people in Newport has the potential for quality entertainment (although I don't recommend trying it without a trained Frost King on hand).**

**Akayuki Novak, thanks for the review! Yes, huzzah for the English language for giving us such fun gems such as "bejeebies" and the related "bejeepers." :D Ah, no worries—life happens to all of us (probably a good thing, come to think of it…). Me too—now to just see where it goes from here….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, great plan! Now let's just hope it goes better than their previous ones….Ah yes, that is true…and I think I shall, if I ever get free time again—"teach me, senpai!" :D (Presenting word I had to look up because I see it everywhere and only had a vague idea of what it meant—so now I know. Good thing it's not Friday…). Eh…it's worse now that there's two holidays to work around, but I started working on it from day one, so it's not ****_too_**** bad—plus this is an examination that allows me to send drafts to the teacher and he sends back suggestions on how to get a pass from there….It was just easier with the cruddy Dell, as it was easier to jump back and forth between files on Windows Vista than it is with Windows 8 (curse you, stupid stacking thingies—you're shaving off precious seconds in which my really great phrases fly out my ear!). True…and yes, they do—they even put it in one of my textbooks at Westwood. :) Although if you stop and think about it, gamers ****_will_**** do the oddest things in search of exploitable glitches and Easter eggs….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Frozen © 2013 Disney**

Wilson very carefully made his way through the narrow alleys of Newport, Rae flanking him, handgun out and down. Wilson as a rule tried not to be familiar with guns, but the one she had was the weightiest handgun he had ever seen—if all else failed, she could bludgeon someone to death with the thing.

They made it to the end of the alley and peeked out into Main Street. It was difficult to see in the gloom and the fog, but after a few moments, it was evident that there was no movement.

"Bad news: they weren't stupid enough to loiter out in the open," Rae observed. "Now what?"

Wilson squinted. There was a very faint hope that maybe some Pale Skins had returned to repopulate the town, but that seemed like a bit of a long shot.

"The buildings all have back entrances," Wilson murmured—Pale Skins had long ago learned not to have structures with only one viable exit. "We sneak in, grab some supplies, and—"

Rae cut him off abruptly, nodding off into the square, alerting him to the new sound making itself known beneath the continuous sound of waves on the nearby shore.

Someone was coming.

Rae very carefully thumbed the hammer of her gun back as the padding noise came closer—whoever it was, they were running—

Someone came out of a shop across the way—

The padding stopped.

The person ducked back in.

The silence was tense, and Wilson was tempted to stick his head out to see—

"Hi there."

Wilson yelped in alarm and jumped. Rae exhibited different activity upon being startled, swinging up her gun and firing a deafening volley as whoever was on the awning above them jumped off to avoid ventilation—

Wilson realized he recognized the person tumbling away from them, white hair stark in the gloom.

_"You,"_ Wilson snarled, pushing Rae's arm down to keep her from firing again. His ears were ringing badly enough as he stood over her intended target. "Does your father know you're here?"

Bakura rolled slightly so he could look at Wilson properly. At least he had the decency to look chagrined as he clasped his hands to his ears. "Ah, well…."

Wilson had to fight to keep from letting Rae shoot Bakura—it was becoming a remarkably attractive option, considering they didn't remotely need the aggravation. "Go. Home. Now," Wilson stressed. "Before I let Miss Rae shoot you."

"I'd love to," Rae said, readying the gun again.

"I could be out of here before she swings that back up," Bakura said as he scrambled to his feet, although he didn't sound convinced. "Besides, you're in the way."

"That latter part can be easily remedied," Wilson said, moving to stand aside—no, don't do that, he reminded himself. They needed the thieves to rescue the Pale Skins, and that was going to be complicated if the Thief King's son was killed.

"The first part can too," someone declared.

Wilson fought to squelch a grimace, then gave it up as inevitable. He turned to a nearby roof, where Joey had an arrow nocked and aimed at Bakura. No way had he made it there because he heard gunshots.

"Miss Rae, would you kindly shoot Mr. Wheeler for me?" Wilson asked.

"I'd love to," Rae said.

"Hey, at least I'm not being a punching bag this time around," Joey countered.

"Huzzah for the rest of us," Wilson said drily.

Regrettably, the minor distraction had given Bakura the time he needed to compose himself—and Wilson was absolutely convinced the Thief King's son was not here for anything positive.

"I'd be nicer to me, if I were you," Bakura said, straightening his coat—one of the flimsy silk numbers Tan Skins wore.

And there was the arrogance that made him the perfect match to the Crown Prince. "I'd be nicer to Rae, if I were you," Wilson countered. "She's the one with the gun."

"And running won't do you any good," Rae added. "This one gets more accurate the further away you get."

That made Wilson risk taking his eyes off of Bakura for a minute. "How do you figure?" he asked her.

"This is a Night Judge," Rae explained, still holding the gun at low ready. "It fires shotgun shells."

That would explain how the awning had disintegrated as it had. "Fascinating," Wilson observed, before turning back to Bakura.

"Anything you'd like to counter with?" Wilson asked with polite sarcasm.

Bakura crossed his arms, as though he wanted to argue until he had a stronger position, but reconsidered the option, as he had two projectile weapons still trained on him. "You're looking for something."

It wasn't a question. "Yes, that was the intention of coming here," Wilson said. "Miss Rae is in need of some warmer clothes."

"That's not it."

"Mr. Akeifa, I have not had any sleep in a week, and I am literally two seconds away from stepping aside so Rae has a clean shot. Now what do you want, you, you…."

"Aggravating troglodyte?" Rae guessed.

"That _does_ sound like something I'd say," Wilson said.

"I figured as much."

Bakura, meanwhile, looked as though Wilson had given him an opening. "It's not so much what _I_ want," he said, reaching into his coat.

And pulling out the Millennium Ring.

Wilson's ears were ringing again. He recognized it from the few times Mahado had used it—there in front of him was the royal's mystical dowsing rod.

Wilson grabbed it to examine it properly. "How did you get—_yeow!"_

He dropped it just as quickly, shaking his fingers. The stupid thing was boiling hot!

"Ah-ah-ah," Bakura said, wagging a finger in his face and holding the Ring out of reach—how was _he_ not getting burned? "The Ring's bonded to _me—_no touchy."

_That_ explained it, if Wilson were willing to humor Yugi and believe the full _magic_ thing—ugh.

Wilson glared at the thief. "What do you want, Bakura?"

"An escort into the mountains for myself and Teana," Bakura said, nodding over his shoulder. Teana—of course, so that was who was coming out of the building across the way.

Wilson took a few steps to the side so Rae had a clear shot. "We aren't providing an escort service," Wilson groused. "And I most certainly am _not_ taking someone up the mountain who's only going to harp and moan the whole way there—I've already done that _once."_

Apparently, that struck a nerve.

Bakura dropped the Ring—it bounced off his chest, tethered to his neck by a string—seized Wilson's collar, and cocked a fist to strike. The way they were positioned, the others couldn't react.

Movement over Bakura's shoulder redirected Wilson's attention—

And prompted him to grimace again.

For there was Willow, Serenity and Yugi—

And they were looking at a point above Wilson's head.

He could guess what was about to happen.

"As you wish then," Wilson said to Bakura, then went limp-legged, startling Bakura into loosening his grip and allowing Wilson to properly hit the deck as something cold sailed over his head.

A startled exclamation told him that the Frost King had hit his mark. He looked up to see Bakura flat on his back, Yami sitting on his chest—ooh, that had to be _cold._

"I don't think I have enough bullets for everyone," Rae observed wryly as the youngest of their group ran up. "We may have to bludgeon them."

"Yami!" Willow scolded. "You were supposed to do the roar thing—you know, flap your wings and toss your head."

"But there were only two people," Yami said, stepping off of Bakura, who looked all shades of floored and horrified and stunned. Wilson guessed that without snow to cushion it, the impact had knocked the wind out of him.

"What? What do you mean, there was only two people here?"

"There were," Yami said, nodding at Bakura, then Teana. "Him and her. Hi."

Teana looked torn between running to Bakura and being wary of Yami, but finally overcame the latter. "Are you okay?" she asked Bakura, kneeling by his head.

"Ow," Bakura noised.

"See, this is why _I_ wanted to come—you have no people skills."

"You, deer-boy," Rae said, pointing at Yami. "'There's only two people' is the sort of thing you tell us _before_ we come in here."

"Oh," Yami said simply, before turning his attention to Bakura and Teana. Yugi stood before him to keep him away. "So who's the sissy girl?"

Yugi's expression said it all—Yami had absolutely no tact. "That's…Miss Teana," Wilson said, hoping his expression conveyed how sorry he was that Yami had said that—he didn't have anything against Teana, despite her preferred company.

Yami glanced at Wilson. "Oh."

And then he looked at Teana. "So who's the nice lady?" he asked, smiling.

Rae's bark of laughter was about as sharp as her gunshots, and she fell to her knees before keeling over laughing.

Wilson put his face in his hands. This couldn't have gone more sideways if he tried.

"I think we need to start this over," Wilson declared finally.


	82. Dawn's Early Light

**Chapter 82, everyone! In which we finally see the second half of an Aesop mentioned in Chapter 10 (the Faun and the Traveler, for those who like to know about these things). And happy Boxing Day, all! Or St. Stephen's Day, if you prefer (behold Boxing Day, another one of those Things I Know About But Had To Look Up). Ah, the irony of having it on my calendar, and yet Americans don't celebrate Boxing Day (the calendar entry reads "Boxing Day (Canada)"—so maybe Wilson celebrates it…).**

**We also get a distinctively American vibe in this chapter, which may be unavoidable, considering the author….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! It was indeed—I looked it up after posting to make sure, and yes, chapter 81 has been the longest chapter to date. :D Haha, yes! Yami used Take Down! It's super effective! :D Yes, Bakura and Teana might be good additions to the team, if Wilson and Rae can tolerate Bakura's existence long enough. Yes, I think that may have been Teana's original destiny….Pff—okay, I'll be honest, that might be unlikely (a ****_Beauty and the Beast_**** moment might be more likely), but now I have this mental image of the classical tongue-stuck-to-cold-lamppost scene…"I ****_told_**** you not to kiss him." :D I did, thank you (Christmas in shorts!)! Hope you had a lovely Christmas, and a happy Boxing Day and New Year! :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Never fear! Mass panic will occur eventually! I can ****_feel_**** it! :D And yes, their track record for successful plans is pretty poor. Yes—Wikipedia and Yahoo search were surprisingly supportive in my quest…I figured it was something similar, but I wasn't sure, hence the search (it just seemed like it became the "in" Japanese word of the year—like chan or kawaii, where they just randomly start popping up in conversations…"A wild Senpai appeared!"). Ooh, thank you! Merry late Christmas (and I suppose merry late Boxing Day) to you too! :D I did—I got German Pokémon movies, among other things….I'm half-tempted to keep them and learn German for Walgerie's sake (so an ex-soldier in an AU pirate world can yell out "I choose you, Pikachu!" in German :D). And then we wore shorts and had the doors and windows open until late afternoon—Heat Miser is now my ****favorite character. :D It was—pretty much all of my textbooks from Westwood and Full Sail were fascinating, and are still consulted on occasion (except for psychology—****_bleh_****). And true—some of those can be chalked up to "Wait—what just happened? And can I do it again?", but I think a lot can be attributed to "I want to be the first one to find this and post it on the Internet!" Yes indeedy—at least we can laugh about it later while Wilson scowls at us.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**The Star-Spangled Banner © 1814 Francis Scott Key ("Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light?...")**

Proper introductions were quickly made.

"This is Teana," Wilson said, indicating the young lady with short brown hair, blue eyes, and tan skin. "And this is Bakura," he added, pointing to the young man Yami had landed on. He was shivering, Yugi noted.

"The sissy girl," Rae added.

The edge of Wilson's mouth twitched up at that.

"That's not funny," Bakura groused.

"Are you kidding? It's hilarious."

Teana, meanwhile, was watching Yami, who in turn was observing them. Yugi was a little surprised he wasn't doing his standard no-personal-space approach. "Does that thing bite?" she asked.

In response, Rae snapped her fingers. "Yami, look at me." Yami did so. "Smile like this," she ordered, baring a toothy grin.

Yami did so. With his profile to everyone, his wolf-bear teeth were quite visible in his long jaw.

"Does that answer your question?" Rae asked.

Bakura, meanwhile, was glaring at Wilson. "'Yami'?" he repeated. "I really should have guessed you'd—"

"I'm sorry, you were wanting to go up the mountain?" Wilson asked, all mock innocence. He might have been mad at them for ignoring his orders (again), but having Yami in the immediate vicinity had given him an advantage in dealing with these people.

Bakura took a step towards him—

And Yami stepped in between them, showing his antlers and snorting at Bakura. The message was clear: _back off. _It might have been better if Yugi had gotten the chance to take his googly-eyed hat off of Yami first, but the intention was clear enough.

Yugi exchanged a surprised glance with Willow, one that was mirrored by Wilson and Bakura. This…was the first time Yugi could recall Yami actually showing aggression to someone, even if he did circle around to sit next to Yugi once Bakura got the message.

As Bakura was sulking again, Teana took the diplomatic approach.

"I know you're not open to two more people joining your party," she said. "But we want to help. I think we _could_ help."

"Right now, I don't see how you _could_ help us," Wilson said. "At the moment, all you have to offer is a mystical toy—"

"The Millennium Ring is _not_ a toy," Bakura shot.

"—And I don't see how that'll help, considering our first order of business is to get back to Frostmore."

"But what about—" Yami started to ask, before Yugi quickly jumped and clamped his jaws shut. It was an action he swiftly regretted—Yami was _cold_. At least it was a good thing, he supposed as he let go and blew into his hands.

"What are you doing?" Yami asked.

"I'm blowing on my hands to warm them," Yugi explained.

Yami looked confused. "But I thought you blew on things to cool them."

"I can do both."

"'I cannot trust anything that blows hot and cold with the same breath,'" Rae observed.

"What?" Yugi asked, feeling just as confused as Yami looked.

"It's an Aesop."

"What's an Aesop?" Yami asked.

"It's a tale told to teach a moral."

"What's a moral?"

"Well, if I had to guess, this guy," Rae said, pointing at Bakura and smirking.

"What?" Bakura asked flatly.

Yami swiveled his ears in the way he usually did when trying to process a lot of information at once.

"I think we've wasted enough time here," Wilson declared. "You two—I don't know. Wait until the boys get back with the sled, and then maybe I'll have forgotten my intense dislike of a certain thief. As for the rest of us, I think it's about time we operate on our original plan."

Rae gave a little finger wave and headed for one of the buildings as Teana steered away a fuming Bakura.

"I've decided I don't like him," Yami said.

"Who, Bakura?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, him. I don't like him. I like her, though."

"I've noticed you like girls a lot," Willow said.

Yugi shook his head and trotted after Wilson, who was already walking away with the air of someone who needed to clear his head.

"So this is it?" he asked—it had been a question burning in Yugi's mind ever since they had arrived. "This is where we came from? This is the place in your story?"

"See for yourself," Wilson said, waving to a spot in the center of the square.

Yugi looked—

Just in time to see the dawn's early light hitting a tattered and faded flag, highlighting three distinct colors and stars and stripes—

Yugi felt something, deep inside. He wasn't sure what it was, and wondered if maybe it would be like how Wilson described, that maybe it was something he _couldn't_ describe, and maybe it didn't need to be. Maybe…it was the feeling of belonging to something bigger, of having it suddenly brought home that the world was so much bigger than he had previously imagined….

He felt cold on one side and a gentle touch on the other. He looked to see Willow and Yami had flanked him, also looking at the flag. Willow smiled slightly at him.

Yami, true to form, was curious. "What is it?" he asked.

Yugi looked back to the flag, flapping proudly in the breeze.

"When I figure it out, I'll tell you," he said to Yami.


	83. Exploring Newport

**Chapter 83, everybody! In which our heroes explore Newport somewhat and encounter beaches based on my experiences in the Outer Banks, sans giant flotsam. And we seem to have broken our longest-chapter record for this story once more****….****Once again, this chapter has been brought to you by sand! It's _everywhere—_get used to it! :D**

**And just so you know, the next chapter of ****_The Frost King_**** will not be until next year. :)**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Again, you deliver to me fascinating tidbits of trivia knowledge, for which I thank you. :D To be honest, I don't know ****_why_**** we don't celebrate it, since America derives a lot of its history and culture from Great Britain…but then again, the Victorian Era occurred after America was its own country, so maybe that's why. *puts it on list of things to research* Ooh, sorry about that—hope you feel better soon! Yes, there could be something between the two…or maybe he detected some tension there. True, which is interesting considering that was partly my intention (which I didn't realize until after you pointed it out ^^;). Hehe, I figured they named it Newport because it was a 'new port' (I personally always think Newport News when I see the name), but that's very true—it's especially noticeable on the Eastern Seaboard (and gave us a very entertaining time when we realized there was a Dublin, Maryland :D). I didn't know Newport was Welsh—thanks for yet another interesting tidbit! :D I need to go hear what a Welsh accent sounds like now….*looks up* And happy New Year to you too! :D And thanks for the favorite and review on "The Use of Small Monsters"! :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Haha, maybe—maybe if he's lucky, Rae will loan him a comb. :D And maybe that's how he ended up in that girls' school****….****And yes, random panic _is_ fun…when it happens to someone else. ^^ Yes, I'm not sure where they come from (besides Japan, obviously)—I wonder if there's some sort of committee in charge of that sort of thing: "This year, the world will learn the Japanese word for 'egg'" (and then the irony that most of the Japanese words I know comes from manga and _Shonen Jump_). And then why don't they use other languages? "This year we'll teach the world a random word from…*pulls slip of paper from hat* the German language! Give them a hand, everybody!" Although now I've learned the Japanese word for "scary," so thanks for that (wait—how does one get those two muddled? I thought "kawaii" was pronounced with the "ka" noise…ah, phonetics…). Ooh, nice and toasty—and sounding remarkably like here (that's _three_ different countries with similar weather—_what's going on here?! _:O). You can! It normally comes from Amazon being wonky—I also got a copy of _Artists and Models_ in Spanish (but we already get a Spanish channel, so…). It's like surfing YouTube and stumbling on a channel from Japan, and then the next thirty "recommended for you" videos are in Japanese (although I suppose that might be beneficial…or annoying). Heheheh, glad it made you laugh (I've got a handful of GatP-related stuff I need to finish up and post on DeviantArt next year, speaking of). On that topic, I looked at my _Glint and the Pirates_ notes last night, and apparently I scribbled down _League of Legends_ as something to look into back in 2013. *-* Hey, that's…a book I need to buy, apparently—I just spent thirty minutes looking for it because I honestly thought I already picked it up (at the very least, it's the sort of book my Mom would have picked up for me). Maybe I did, and it's loitering with my nautilus shell….Yes….Maybe that's why we never see Wilson smile (he knows his ultimate fate…). Yes! Go! Defend that title!**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Aladdin and the King of Thieves © 1996 Tad Stones (the quote earlier)**

They didn't really have anything to attend to at the moment, so Yugi, Willow and Yami entertained themselves with exploring Newport as the others did their things.

Despite its abandoned air, it was actually quite well-constructed and cozy. The morning sun made it look a lot less foreboding than it had been, like people were about to come out and go about their business.

Somehow, that made it feel more like a ghost town to Yugi.

They checked out one mostly open building—it was filled with tools similar to the ones Wilson had in his basement, but whose purpose Yugi couldn't even begin to guess. For once, he couldn't answer Yami's questions, and promised they'd ask Wilson later.

Yugi, meanwhile, was having a very rapid conversation with Willow, with as much possible transferred via their silent language, occasionally supplemented by words when motions failed him. Yami was currently distracted by his reflection in a store window, so Yugi wasn't _too_ worried about him eavesdropping and asking too many questions.

Willow was quiet and still for the longest time, processing everything Yugi had just finished telling her.

She looked around finally.

"So this place," she said slowly, quietly. "This is where we came."

"I guess," Yugi said, matching her tone.

She nodded once, sharply, then grabbed his wrist and dragged him down an alley.

"Where are you going?" Yami asked, seeing them leave and bounding after them.

"I want to see this," Willow said, walking briskly. Yugi matched her pace, guessing what it was she wanted to see.

The exited the alley—

To be hit with a stiff breeze.

The fog that had been loitering around was still somewhat present here, and when they stepped off the brick walk, they hit sandy ground once again.

"What is this?" Yami asked, still perched on the bricks and looking around.

"I'm…not sure," Yugi said, wincing slightly. The breeze was stirring up sand particles to bite his ankles, and the perpetual roaring and crashing that had been ignored background noise had asserted itself.

They cautiously crept forward, unsure of this foggy ground. Yugi looked back to see Yami working up the nerve to step off the bricks after them.

He did so finally and ended up floundering. "Hey," he said. "This is kind of like snow."

"It's sand," Yugi explained, spitting his bangs out of his mouth.

Yami sniffed it, only to snort in disgust and rub his nose. "It's in my nose," he complained.

"You're not supposed to inhale it," Willow said, glancing back. _"AAA!"_ she yelped suddenly, jumping back.

Yugi deduced why a moment later as a cold wave of water hit his ankles, sloshing over his shoes. They quickly retreated, Yami running forward—

Only to do the same thing they did. "Ackgh, it's _wet!"_ he complained, reaching the portion of sand they had retreated to and shaking his hands and feet.

Yugi blinked. Yami might not have been at full power yet, but something in contact with him—especially water—would have frozen. "What did we just run into?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know," Willow said, squinting into the fog. "Come on—let's wait for the fog to burn off."

"Fog burns?" Yami asked, looking around as they retreated the rest of the way to the brick walk and sat down.

"I wish," Willow said.

Yami looked around, finally dismissed the sand as not worth his time, and crossed over to the brick walk, flopping down on it with a sigh. He might not want them to be aware of it, but he was still pretty weak from the weather.

"So…a Millennium Puzzle or a Frozen Heart," Willow said, knocking her shoes together. "That's what we need to get Yami off the mountain with no ill effect."

"I think there's just one of each," Yugi said.

"Once we get back to the mountain, can we not leave?" Yami asked, still looking like he was dozing. "I don't like sand."

"I'm pretty sure the whole world isn't covered in sand," Yugi told him.

"We don't have to get _all_ the way off the mountain, do we?" Yami continued. "There's no _snow_ down here—it's not as fun. And the air's too thick."

Yugi had to agree with that last bit—he had finally, _finally_ gotten used to breathing in soup. His nose was going to freeze now.

Willow nudged him, prompting him to look at her.

She quickly expressed her concern in their silent language—_if we're going to have any hope of finding those things, we're going to have to bring him along._

Bakura, she meant. Yugi expressed his opinion on the matter with a grimace.

She nodded, agreeing, then continued. _And if Yami follows us, how do we explain him to everyone in Frostmore?_

Yugi shrugged—he hadn't quite thought that bit out yet.

_And what if our Yami is that Yami?_

At that, Yugi sagged. He still hadn't fully processed that yet. Part of him was in denial, he supposed.

He glanced at Yami, still lightly dozing.

_He looks happy,_ Willow observed when he looked back at her.

_But if Wilson's right, then Yami's got so many memories he doesn't remember,_ Yugi pointed out. _Doesn't he have the right to remember?_

_But what if those memories make him a jerk? _Willow countered. _Would you rather him be this way and happy, or that way and upset? Where do you think he'd be happiest?_

Yami had already told them.

But if he didn't remember….

Yugi got ready to respond—

The fog shifted, clearing—

"Woah," Yugi said out loud, prompting Yami to look up and Willow to follow suit.

"Woah," Willow echoed.

"What is it?" Yami asked.

Good question. It looked like the skeletal remains of some massive metal beast, ribs draped with mummified skin.

They got up, cautiously approaching.

"This is going to suck if we have to run on this sand," Willow observed quietly.

"It'd majorly suck," Yugi agreed.

"What does that mean?" Yami asked.

"It means it's going to be really bad."

"Oh." Yami tried bounding forward, lost his footing, and fell. "Yeah," he spluttered, spitting out sand. "I see what you mean."

They approached the massive metal thing as the fog continued to thin. Whatever it was, it was long, stretching away into….

The ocean.

_That_ was what they had run into.

"What's _that?"_ Yami asked, looking at the waves crashing down on the shore.

"They're…waves," Yugi said. "Hey—Willow!"

Willow had walked up a bank of sand to where it had buried the bottom of the metal thing. Yugi scrambled up it after her.

"Look at that," Willow said, voice echoing oddly.

Upon reaching her, he could see why—it was a…cavern, he was going to guess, but with crazily smooth sides, like manmade walls.

Wait….

Yugi slid down the slope, backed up to look at the shape again; Yami took his place on the slope so he could peer in.

The dissipating fog meant it was easier to see the massive shape and deduce the purpose. It was long and thin, like a blade, but easily as thick as the Crown King's palace.

"Willow," Yugi said. Then, louder, "Willow! This is it! This was the ship!"

Willow glanced back at him, excited, before fishing out her lighter and peering back into the ship. "Let's go in!"

"Let's not," a familiar trumpety voice said.

Yugi looked back to see Wilson emerging from an alley.

"So here's where you three disappeared to," he observed.

Yugi pointed frantically. "That's the ship, right? The one in your story." He looked back to peer at the side—_Starchaser_ was scratched along the top.

"Willow, get down from there," Wilson ordered. "I highly doubt that's safe to explore anymore."

"What about this?" Yami asked, sliding down the slope—apparently, Wilson saying _no_ was enough to get him to momentarily abandon the ship. "This big wet thing?"

"That's the ocean."

"Why did it soak Yami?" Yugi asked. "Shouldn't he have frozen it? He's frozen water before."

"Has he?" Wilson asked mildly; Yugi could practically _hear_ him mentally filing that tidbit away. "The ocean is salt water—it has a much lower freezing point than freshwater does."

Yami bounded up. "What is this?" he asked, holding up something small.

"That's a shell," Wilson told him. "It's from a creature that lives out in the ocean."

Yami looked confused. "Things _live_ in that?"

"Massive things. Now come along—we have to get you three ready. _Willow! Don't make me ask again!"_

Willow grumbled, but slid down the slope and crossed over to them.

"We don't need any new clothes, do we?" Yugi asked. "I know Rae and Teana and Bakura—"

"Whether or not the latter two are coming is something I have not decided upon yet," Wilson said tetchily.

Yugi exchanged glances with Willow—_we're going to have to convince him._

"And apparently, you _do_ need new shoes," Wilson continued, gesturing to their still-soaked feet. "And I don't plan on stopping for you two to get dressed in warmer clothes. Now come on."

He walked back down the alley, still with his aggravated-scientist air.

Yugi exchanged glances with Willow before looking back to the ocean, massive and endless, shards of sun sparking on the surface.

When they exchanged glances again, something that simply could not be put into words passed between them.

They walked away with the feeling the ocean had given them, Yami following after doing the same.


	84. Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry?

**Chapter 84, everybody! In which the writer learns the difference between American and English versions of tabling—it wouldn't be that much of a problem if it weren't for the fact that I think Wilson has some British roots in him….We also get a swift escape from Newport as well—****_run, you fools!_**

**By the by, the title for this chapter comes from a saying my Mom used recently****—it seemed like an appropriate title, and a bit more original than the original intended title for this chapter. And Wilson's treatment of the shoes comes from Texas techniques (because nothing says "yeowch!" like sticking your foot in a pre-occupied boot...).**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes indeedy! And yes indeed—Wilson's lack of enthusiasm may have stemmed from the fact that he spent his formative years in said ship on the ocean, so he might be sick of the sea by now. Hmmm…it ****_is_**** a conundrum….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, tis true—and tis true…as my father says, "it depends on which side of the fence you're on!" Yes, there has to be a committee that does this sort of thing—how else can we explain it? Heh—I had learned that one from a chapter of ****_Shaman King_****, but it's nice to see the kanji for it. And oh good—or bad, depending on that fence again….Huh—what's the difference? *goes to look up phonetics again* Oh hey, you might be ready for ****_Don't Starve: Reign of Giants_**** then (or California during the summer—both those settings tend to spontaneously combust during the summer). I know! It's weird….And so are fanfiction reviews. Yes! Get excited! It's the year of the Glint! :D And yes! As soon as I get some time off again….And if it doesn't show up, we've just bought it off of Amazon, so there's that….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi quickly became grateful for Yami not wanting to get too far away.

Because if it wasn't for his icebox-self, Yugi would have overheated upon putting his layers and coat back on.

Wilson had found a few extra clothes that he insisted they try on, and while they were comfortable, the extra layers were _hot_. Wilson, apparently satisfied, rolled up a few more articles of clothing and put them in the sled.

Their soaked shoes were tied to the handles of the sled, and as their socks dried in the sun, they pulled on new ones (without holes, Yugi noted) and then new shoes over that after Wilson had held them upside down and knocked them against a wall.

"Why did you do that?" Yami asked, watching his every action.

"To rid them of potential pests," Wilson replied, handing the shoes to Yugi. "Now put those on."

Yugi did so, hoping this meant they were going to leave very, _very_ soon.

"Don't forget your hats," Wilson reminded them as he walked off.

Willow fished in a pack and pulled hers out. Yugi looked in the pack as she pulled her hat on, only to remember exactly _where_ his hat was.

They looked at Yami, still comical with a googly-eyed penguin hat tucked behind his antlers.

"Can I have my hat back?" Yugi asked.

Yami rolled his eyes back, as though he had forgotten it was there.

"I have an idea," Willow said, running into a building. Before Yugi could shrug at Yami, she had returned, carrying a hat with flaps like Yugi's.

"Trade you," Willow said, holding the hat up for Yami's perusal.

"What's that?" Yami asked, looking.

"It's…pink," Yugi said. "You can't trade him a _pink_ hat."

"Why not?" Willow asked.

"The colors clash."

They looked over at the sound of the new voice to see Rae walking out of a building across the way.

"What's _that?" _Yami asked, obviously taken with Rae's new look.

Rae looked down at her scarf, gloves, coat like Yugi's, pants, and boots, all the same color as her hat and the second one with flaps she had on beneath it. "It's called purple."

"It's pretty."

"I'll see if I can't find one that color then," Willow said, putting the hat she had gotten on the sled and running back into the building.

"Wow," an acerbic voice said. "I haven't seen _that_ much purple since the Crown King last decided to grace us with his presence."

"Careful, Bakura," Rae said, turning to face the thief. "Your jealousy is showing. And your front is undone."

She barked out a laugh as Bakura glanced down. "Made you look," she teased.

Bakura had flushed an interesting shade of red upon looking back up at her. He stalked back into a nearby building and slammed the door, making the little bell tinkle.

"You're pretty," Yami observed, prompting Yugi to look.

He had to agree with Yami upon spotting Teana—she, like Rae, had gone for a uniform color in her winter clothing, albeit hers was cream instead of purple. She had gone an extra step and added a cloak that went down to the ground. It was really a nice look, although Yugi felt she might regret the cloak later—it was too easy to tangle up in things.

"You like it?" Teana asked. "I've never worn this many clothes at once before."

"You get used to it," Yugi said.

And then Bakura came back out, bundled up to the point that only his eyes were really visible, and Yugi couldn't help but start laughing.

"It's not funny," Bakura said, although his voice was muffled to the point that he probably could have said anything.

"Right," Yugi managed, still laughing.

"How about this?" Willow asked, returning with an indigo hat for Yami.

"I'm fine without one," Yami said, lowering his head so Yugi could take his back.

Yugi did so and put it back on before he fully realized what he was doing.

_"Aaaugyh!"_ he choked out, falling to the ground.

"What? What?" Willow asked, Yami frantic behind her.

"My hat's _cold!_" Yugi gasped, tearing it back off. "I think my brain froze," he added, rubbing his head.

"What did you expect?" Willow asked, indicating Yami.

"Since no one seems to be panicking, I take it that wasn't a cry of distress?" Wilson asked, running over. Joey and Tristan, still exhausted from pulling the sled into town, trailed behind.

"Yugi froze his brain," Willow said.

"So it wasn't anything vital," Rae added.

"You're not funny," Wilson informed her. Then, to the rest of them, "All right, we're about as ready as we're going to be. Yami, the reins, please."

"You're taking a turn pulling the sleigh?" Yami asked, intrigued.

"I wish he would," Joey grumbled.

"No I am not," Wilson said, pointing at the reins.

Yami sat by them and patiently waited for Yugi and Willow to put them on him.

"I'm not looking forward to being cold," Yugi heard Bakura mutter.

"Fortunately for you, you're not going," Wilson said.

Yugi shot Willow a look, which she reciprocated. "Yes he is," Yugi said quickly.

"No he isn't," Yami said, twisting around to look at him. "I don't like him. And that thing he has is creepy."

Yugi couldn't help but stare. "Huh?"

"We need the magical dowsing thing," Willow said. "But then again, that doesn't mean we need Bakura…."

"Yes you do," Bakura said quickly. "The Ring is bonded to _me_—which reminds me," he added, looking at Wilson. "How are your fingers?"

"I'm sorely tempted to show you one," Wilson said. "But that would require a level of crassness I am not willing to lower myself to."

"Would you like _me_ to?" Rae asked.

"Not in front of the children."

"He could be lying," Yugi said, as the thought occurred to him. "Bakura, I mean."

It was hard to tell with all the clothing on, but Bakura seemed to bristle before fishing in his clothes and pulling out the Millennium Ring. Yugi recognized it from when Mahado used it.

"Is that it?" Willow asked. "I was expecting a _ring_-ring, or a ring-thing, not a…a…."

"Dreamcatcher?" Rae suggested.

"What's a dreamcatcher?" Yami asked.

"_Ahem,"_ Bakura noised, redirecting their attention. "Any suggestions on what I should be looking _for?"_

Rae raised a finger.

"That would be unwise," Wilson counseled her before she could speak. "As would taking you two along. Our current plans do not involve dragging dead weight around."

"Does the dowsing-thing work?" Yugi asked.

In response, Bakura closed his eyes briefly.

One prong of the Ring lifted and pointed towards the mountain range.

Bakura promptly ruined the moment by squinching an eye open and looking at the Ring. "Does that answer your question?" Bakura asked.

"I guess…."

In response, Wilson checked to ensure that Yami was properly harnessed up. "Everyone who came down from the mountain with me had better be on this sled in the next minute. You too, Rae."

"They're coming too," Yugi said, pointing at Bakura and Teana.

"No they're not."

"Yes they are."

"Pull one of those superior-things on him," Willow counseled. "'I'm the prince, and what I say goes!'"

Yugi felt that if he tried that, things would end badly for him, if Wilson's expression was anything to go by. Yugi sorely wished that Wilson could understand their wordless speak, but quickly followed that up with the thought that they'd never have a moment's peace again if he could.

Yami, however, solved any and all stalemates by lifting his head up and looking south. "Someone's coming. A lot of someones," he added, looking at Rae.

Everyone glanced south. "Do these someones have pointy objects?" Rae asked.

"How would I know that?" Yami asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"Okay, the discussion is officially shelved," Wilson said as Yugi spotted a cloud of dust. "Everyone on the sled. Now—_right now!"_

Yugi and Willow dove onto the sled, Yugi got an elbow to the back as everyone else piled on, heard Wilson tell Rae to stand on one of the runners—

_"Halt!"_

Yugi glanced back frantically, couldn't tell if everyone was on or not—

But saw the horses and chariots and the guys with arrows pointed at them.

"Yami!" Yugi fairly screamed. _"Mush!"_

Yami took off like a shot, eliciting screams from the runners and those unused to his takeoffs—

"Where are you _going?"_ Willow yelled as Yami made a large circle, turning to face the charioteers—

Yami ramped up, flared his wings, tossed his head—

And as he came back down, he let loose a roar.

It was beyond anything Yugi was familiar with, reverberating in his ribs—

And actually forming frost on the cobblestone from the force of it, sending cold webbing skittering away from Yami's feet.

The horses and humans reacted equally, screaming and falling back—

And then Yami had made another large circle, galloping away and to the north.

"You told me to roar at them," Yami said, looking back to Willow.

"I meant earlier," Willow managed, still clinging to the front of the sled. Yugi scrambled to an upright position and hauled her onto the sled proper. He glanced back to check on the others—

A rattling sound prompted Yugi to spin and face ahead, where a chariot had rounded the town edge, aiming to cut them off, spear at the ready—

Yami roared again, causing the horse to rear. He dashed beneath the upraised hooves, and Yugi got a good look at its underbelly before self-preservation made him bury his face against Willow's back.

Rae exclaimed, using a word that would have prompted Wilson to get out the soap in a less stressful situation. Yugi looked back, alarmed.

Bakura was facing backwards, clinging to the back of the sleigh, but otherwise everyone was accounted for. Rae and Wilson were on the runners, Rae clinging tightly to her hat with one hand and using every word that Wilson could possibly disapprove of.

Yugi looked at Willow, and she looked at him.

"I definitely need to read more!" she told him.

Yugi grinned, looked up—

"_Yami!"_

Yami dodged around more soldiers, snarling angrily at them to make them fall back—

And heading straight for the river.

"Yami!" Yugi yelped, grabbing one of the reins in an attempt to make him turn. "_Woah! No!"_

Yami glanced back—

"I'm sorry!" he called. "I have to do this!"

Then he poured on the speed—

He hit the river—

And sent up a spray of snow.

He ran as fast as he could, drifting downstream as the rushing river forced his fresh floes of ice away, just barely keeping the sled on ice instead of sinking in water—

And then they hit the other bank.

Yami turned, following the bank upriver and towards the mountain, giving them a perfect view of the soldiers on the other side aiming arrows at them—

But they were already long-gone.

* * *

A few minutes later, Yami finally slowed down to a heaving stop, breathing hard from the exertion in the tepid weather.

"I…." Rae gasped, collapsing onto the ground. "Am going to kill every last one of you."

Yugi and Willow, meanwhile, had run up to Yami, who had flopped onto the ground panting.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked, kneeling next to Yami's head—his flame was guttering again.

Yami opened his eyes and wolf-grinned at them, tongue lolling out.

"That was _fun_," he said. "Can we do it again?"

The answer to that was unanimous.

_"NO!"_


	85. Part III - Back to the Mountains

**Chapter 85, everybody! And the beginning of Part III! It's all downhill…er, uphill? I think I've lost track of this author's note….Where's my hat?...**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review, and congrats on review #99! Yes, he does—I guess it's the gentleman part of Wilson's gentleman-scientist aura (which helps to disguise the fact that I'm actually not fond of writing out curse words in my stories ^^; ). That—may be because Wilson has been the target of some of the young Crown Prince and Thief Prince's pranks, he's just informed me…and what? And because Bakura's a rude cur, Wilson adds. Oh yes—Yami always notices nice ladies. ^^ Yes, it's about as pleasant as putting on cold boots (but Mom won't let me bring them in because I drag in dirt that way :( ). Haha, thanks, I'm glad you liked it! That was fun to write. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, there's that mass panic! Yes, I've been having the same problem with vanishing reviews—I wrote to FanFiction, and it's since resolved itself, so maybe it'll straighten up for you soon. On that note, congratulations on being review #100! :D You have a Japanese keyboard? At the risk of asking a dumb question, what are the keys written in (i.e., English, Kanji, Japanese alphabet)? So long as it's only one word, right? :) Yes, spontaneous combustion is distinctly un-fun (and that may be because January is the month when Christmas bills come in). Yes, it's coming! :D I even got two script pages out of him last week! Success! :D I hope so—I saw the movie, and it's been my experience that the books are always better (with the exception of ****_Jurassic Park_****—never read Michael Chriton. ****_Ever_****). No! Use CPR! And now I need to come up with a funny computer-version of that….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Santa Claus is Comin' to Town © 1970 Rankin-Bass ("Put one foot in front of the other…")**

Everyone was walking again, through ground that was spongy and sandy and not entirely pleasant. Yugi would have rather ridden the sled, but it didn't take a gentleman scientist to see that Yami had exerted himself beyond what was necessary.

But they couldn't rest too long—there was a chance that those soldiers could easily cross the river in their pursuit. They had to put some distance between them.

They had to reach the mountains.

* * *

Wilson couldn't help but feel less than thrilled at the new additions to their party.

Rae, he didn't mind. Rae, he appreciated somewhat—it would be nice to have someone to talk to on his level, once she decided to start talking to him again.

But Bakura and Teana….

Granted, he didn't much mind Teana, either—he had never had much reason to form an opinion of her, seeing as she never got into the same amount of trouble either of her cohorts had.

But _Bakura…_he was a disaster waiting to happen. He was bull-headed and caustic, and very rarely listened to reason. Wilson found himself picturing the worst-case scenario with Bakura being another Frost King on his hands….But then again, that might just be an improvement, considering Yami's personality.

Of course, that would require Wilson actually believing the hypothesis Yugi had posed, which didn't have that much evidence going for it to begin with….Ah, if only he had gotten that Ring.

Now, granted, he had it—with unnecessary baggage.

Uneasy silence reigned over the group, but Wilson ignored it for the moment, lost in his own thoughts.

He wasn't surprised when Yami stopped and collapsed onto the ground—Yami had really exerted himself back in Newport, for reasons Wilson couldn't fathom.

But to summon ice and snow in the tepid weather of Newport! _There_ was data that supported his theory that the Frost King could control the snow.

Hannah would have a field day, considering the theory had originally been _her_ idea.

"Come on, Yami, get up," Yugi chided. "We can rest later, honest."

"Five minutes," Yami sighed.

Rae startled Wilson by circling around to stand in front of Yami and kneeling down in front of him.

"Yami!" she said. "Do you want to learn a new song?"

Despite his weariness, Yami's ears pricked forward. "Sure!"

"Good, but it requires you to act it out a bit. _Put one foot in front of the other…."_

Wilson bit his lip but said nothing, opting instead to watch.

"_You never will get where you're going,"_ she continued. _"If you never get up on your feet…."_

Bakura started grumbling, finally giving Wilson a good excuse to slap him upside the head.

Because Yami had gotten back up, and was following Rae as she carefully danced in front and away from him.

_"If I want to change the reflection I see in the mirror each morn,"_ Rae sang, pointing at Bakura.

"I know when I'm being mocked," Bakura snapped.

"That was more than I credited you with," Wilson said, smirking slightly. He took up the rear as Serenity, Willow and Yugi took up the song along with Yami. He wasn't about to let Bakura out of his sight—he wasn't an idiot, after all.

"Again! Again!" Yami chimed, once Rae had finished.

Wilson slapped Bakura upside the head again as he groaned.

_"Will you knock it off!?"_ Bakura snapped, rounding on Wilson.

"But that's the only benefit of having you around!" Wilson replied, smiling benignly.

Bakura scowled and turned—

And bumped right into the freezing snout of the Frost King.

Wilson had to admit, he was a tad surprised at the look Yami was giving Bakura. It seemed that the Frost King could get irritated—fancy that.

"Stop being so, so…." Yami paused, searching for a word.

"Dunderheaded," Rae suggested.

Yami looked at her. "What does that mean?"

"Dunce, idiot, moron….It was the first word to come to mind, considering my usual adjectives for such a person have become off-limits."

Yami pondered this, glowered at Bakura once more, and then returned to pulling the sled as Rae resumed her song.

Wilson decided that this was going to be a _very_ long trip.


	86. Lief's Extended Family

**Chapter 86, everybody! In which we encounter one of _Don't Starve's_ more infamous set pieces….And Rae quotes my Mom****—she's recounted some interesting life stories that I enjoy incorporating whenever I get the chance. :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! But it's their bliss! D: And that's true…but on the same token, it also reminds me of that line from ****_The Avengers_**** (probably because I watched the bloopers yesterday): "I have an army!" "We have a Frost King." (which I seem to have inadvertently referenced in this chapter, actually...). They'll get over it eventually. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! It may be the hour, but your first statement was absolutely hilarious. :D Yes, they are—if all else fails, call tech support *cue ****_Vanilla-Sky_****-Tom-Cruise-"Good-Vibrations" moment: ****_tech support!_***** Ahem—moving on….Okay, that makes more sense (although now it makes me wonder how many countries have keyboards in English…another for the list of "things I need to research"). Of course. :) Aahhh…here it's the opposite problem: my consoles are all hooked up to the big TV, which is the one Mom and Dad use, so I only get to play on those games when I'm home alone—making computer games a glorious thing…(I bought a bunch of my console games on Steam so I don't have to wait around anymore—now I just have to finish up my exam D: ). But yes, no one likes getting those (and if they do, then there's something peculiar about them…). He is! It's terrifying—yes, please, Glint. Wait, where are you going? ****_Come back! _*****ties him to a chair* Yes, just got it in the mail (a little muffed up—Amazon, you're slipping!), and I'm looking forward to cracking it open. :D weird….Yes, they do, but I appreciate every one. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Progress was a lot slower going _uphill,_ Yugi reflected.

It was getting dark, but Wilson hadn't called for them to stop yet. Yugi figured he was trying to put as much distance between them and those soldiers as possible.

Yugi was all for it. He just wasn't all for stumbling around in the dark.

"How long do you think it'll take those guys to ford the river?" Yugi asked Willow.

"You mean after they work up enough nerve to follow after us, knowing we have a Frost King?"

"That _does_ seem like a good deterrent."

Wilson paused and looked behind them. "I think this is about as good as we're going to manage today," he observed. "_Woah,_ Yami—we need to make camp before dark."

Yami continued on.

"Yami," Yugi chided, going up to his head. "_Woah_ means _stop,_ remember?"

"Yeah," Yami said. "But I want to get up there before we do. It's safer."

Yugi looked ahead to see where Yami was aiming for: a cluster of pine trees.

"I supposed it'd hide us from anybody," Rae mused.

Yugi, however, felt a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Yami?" Yugi asked. "How many of Lief's cousins _are_ there?"

Yami, however, had already reached the first of the pine trees.

"Hi, you don't know me," Yami said to the tree. "But I'm friends with Lief up the mountain, we're heading home, and we're trying to avoid some very bad men. Would you mind too terribly letting us sleep in there for the night?"

"Is he _talking_ to a _tree?"_ Bakura asked.

"It's a thing," Willow replied.

The tree shuddered slightly, prompting Yami to tip his head and begin vouching for everyone's character. By name.

"Except for him," Yami said, turning his head to indicate Bakura. "I don't like him. But that doesn't mean we have to be mean to him and leave him out here."

Bakura exchanged confused glances with Teana, who gave him a justified look.

Which meant that they both missed the tree standing up slightly and sidling aside enough for the sled to pass.

"Good news!" Yami called back. "Leyla says we can stay for the night—but we're only allowed to use deadfall for firewood and only in the center so we don't burn anything."

Yugi couldn't help but glance at Willow, who bit her lip.

"It's not like I do it on purpose," she said as they followed the sled in. "It just sort of…happens."

* * *

Once they were settled in and he got over his fear of the circle of potential-Lief-cousins, Yugi actually felt quite secure. There was something to be said about having a giant tree in between you and the bad guys, especially if the giant tree walked.

Of course, if they angered said giant walking tree, that would be a problem….

Yami was resting next to the trees, away from the fire, while Rae selected a jar of something, disgorged it into a pot, and then put the pot on the fire. The smell that wafted through the air a few moments later told him it was soup.

Wilson glanced up from his notes. "Soup?"

"For now," Rae replied. "I figure some of the veggies can be supplemented with rabbits, if we get the chance to hunt later. Unless there's giant rabbits I don't know about that take offense to rabbit-eating?" she asked, glancing at Yami.

"Oh yes," Wilson said, smirking slightly as he went back to his notes. "Giant ones, bigger than a grown man. They live in carrot houses in the kingdom of the Bunnymen."

There was a moment where everyone stared at Wilson.

"_You_ need sleep," Rae said, pointing at him.

"I do," Wilson agreed. "But I don't quite trust the rest of you to keep a proper eye out."

Rae nodded briefly. "I think I'll hit you with a frying pan. Please tell me we packed a frying pan," she added, looking to Serenity.

"I think so," Serenity said.

_"That_ is not the best use of your talents, Miss Rae," Wilson said, not looking up from his notes.

"I regret the decisions leading to this," Bakura said to Teana.

"Maybe if you thought twice more often," Teana rejoined.

"This is getting to be a very entertaining evening," Willow said to Yugi.

Yugi nodded. "They always say in stories that characters bicker—I've never actually understood that line until now."

"It _is_ fascinating."

"I wonder why they skip over this sort of thing in the stories."

"Probably because it gets real old fast."

"Probably."

"Or for conciseness," Rae said, not looking up from stirring the soup. "Although some skip it just to avoid dialogue."

"People _do_ prefer to hurry on to the dragon-fighting," Willow agreed.

"That's because it's exciting."

Yugi leaned against the log he and Willow were sitting next to and breathed in the strong scent of pine. He had previously agreed with Willow on preferring to only hit the high points of a story, but after experiencing such high points in his life, he was quite content to savor the quiet moments.

Yami finally got up and trotted over, interrupting a minor conflict between Rae and Joey.

"May I have some soup?" he asked, front end lower than the rear.

"What do we say?" Rae asked, after recovering.

Yami blinked and looked over to Yugi, confused.

"We say 'please,'" Yugi supplied.

"Please?" Yami repeated, sounding a bit unsure.

Rae put down a cup of soup for him before dipping one out for herself.

"The rest of you can serve yourself," Rae said, going over to sit on the end of Wilson's log.

"You're not going to?" Bakura asked.

"Well," Rae said, blowing on her soup. "There _is_ a way for me to deign to serve you—but it involves breaking both of your legs first."

Teana had already gotten two cups and was back beside Bakura by the time he started processing the comment. "Here, I felt sorry for you," she said, handing him a cup.

"I don't need pity," Bakura countered.

A pine cone shot out of a tree and nailed him in the back of the head.

"Aspen says stop whining," Yami said, licking his cup clean with a look of pure joy on his face. "More please," he said, nudging the cup to Yugi.

Yugi had been about to take a sip of his own soup when it occurred to him that Yami had said a different name than earlier. "Yami?" Yugi asked. "How many of these trees are Lief's cousins?"

"All of them," Yami said, before nudging the cup again and laying down behind it, very much like Chester next to an empty dog food bowl. "More please?"

Yugi was too busy processing the fact that they were surrounded by walking, potentially ill-tempered trees.

He suddenly felt a lot less secure.

"You can have mine," he said finally, putting his cup next to Yami's.

Yami didn't see a problem with that at all.


	87. Rain On Their Parade

**Chapter 87, everybody! Which is a tad short, but the next couple of chapters are extra-long to make up for it (this was the only place to naturally break the chapters, to be honest). And Rae mentions booze….A mudslide involves Kahlua, vodka, and Bailey's cream, and was the drink of choice for the adults when our family went with friends to Montana in the dead of winter—I remember thinking it was adult hot chocolate. : \**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Nope—very little gets past walking trees, to be honest; even when I expect them in-game, they ****_still_**** give me a heart attack when they pop up. *~* Oh, wow! Now I wonder what a Rain King looks like (must brainstorm). At least you're getting rain, though—the Frost King is finally coming to our area, and is apparently being preceded by weather nymphs (cold and gusty today)….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! As many as he needs….Lief is a Treeguard, which in _Don't Starve_ has a chance of spawning when a tree is cut down (to avenge his fallen brothers…). The longer a single game goes on, the higher the chance of one or more Treeguards spawning when a tree is cut down. The set piece the characters are currently camping in is called the Living Forest, which is generally a circle of sleeping Treeguards (and after looking this up, I discover that I've been misspelling "Lief" all this time…). Yes it was. :D I don't know…best to put it on the "things to research" list (which is actually getting remarkably long…). Some games are best to play when no one's around…on occasion, I can play games on the TV when my parents are home, but then they come in and sit behind me and it throws off my gaming groove. :\ Yes, get that stuff done! Which reminds me—I have an examination to finish. D:**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson finally catnapped sometime near dawn, catching a few moments of rest once he was fairly certain everyone else was asleep and Rae had gotten over her urge to do him bodily harm. Rae, meanwhile, had like him refused to sleep, mostly because one of the trees did in fact stand up, lean over the sleeping forms of Willow and Yugi, and put a few feathery boughs on them to keep them warm before returning to its spot. Wilson had immediately rushed over and checked them over to make sure that yes, they were still alive, and no, they were not hurt.

Rae had spent the remainder of the evening sitting by the campfire and hugging her shotgun, wide-eyed and staring. He had sat opposite her on their shared log, eyeing the trees. Granted, he didn't know what they'd _do_ if the trees decided to attack—it wasn't like Rae's guns were of any use against trees…perhaps she knew that, and that was why she was so nervous.

He couldn't blame her—he was plotting various plans of action _should_ the trees become hostile, and the only one that seemed like it would be any good was the one that involved setting them on fire—and then they'd be trapped by a ring of fire, cooking them alive, so he discarded that one.

But finally, he had decided upon the wisdom of getting at least _some_ sleep—unlike the others, he hadn't done so in a while, and it was really beginning to affect his eyesight and motor functions.

"Language, please," he murmured, upon hearing Rae mutter something. He was really going to have to discuss with her the acceptable language to use around the younger in the group.

"I think I'm justified in my usage here," she returned.

Any question as to why was answered by a drop landing on his nose, prompting him to open his eyes and look up.

It wasn't getting any lighter, and it probably wouldn't today, either.

It was starting to rain.

Wilson mentally echoed Rae's sentiment. Rain was something they decidedly did _not_ need.

Audibly, however, he settled for sighing.

Great.

* * *

"I've decided I don't like rain," Willow declared.

"Seconded," Yugi agreed.

"I think Yami dislikes it too."

Yami did indeed dislike rain, judging by the way he was pressed against one of the trees and hunched over, looking despondent. The rain froze when it came in contact with him, and the ice _should_ have, in theory, been helpful, but it clung to his fur and ran in icicles off his antlers, which meant that the longer it rained, the more weighed down with ice Yami became.

"Is this going to stop soon?" Yami asked for the third time that quarter-hour.

"E_ven_tually," Rae said tetchily.

"We may be delayed further by this," Wilson muttered, trying very hard to construct a proper lean-to to keep the rain off the supplies. Rae kept the fire going, but the rest of them had retreated to the relative protection from the elements that the trees afforded.

Of course, if the trees stood up, that would be a problem….

Yugi tensed when he heard a grumbling, rustling noise. He was familiar with it—it was the same sort of noise that Lief made when he was talking.

"I don't _want_ to move," Yami whined. "It gets worse if I sit in the open."

More rustling. Yugi identified the tree Yami was pressed against as the source.

"If you move, I'll just follow you," Yami declared.

Yugi had to stuff his mitten in his mouth to keep from laughing at how the tree sagged.

"Maybe we should press on," Willow suggested. "We can't just _stay_ here—those guards might catch up to us."

"I _am_ loathe to delay for much longer," Wilson said, managing to get something relatively resembling a lean-to that only leaked periodically over the sled. "But first, we have to dry off—going into colder air soaking wet is probably one of the _worst_ things we could do, second only to traversing a mountain in rainy weather. At best, we'd be slowed down by mud and poor visibility. At worst, we'd all die in a mudslide."

"A mudslide sounds promising," Rae said. "The kind with Kahlua, though."

"Inebriation will _not_ be helpful, Miss Rae."

Yugi sighed and pressed closer to Willow. It was relatively dry under Lief's cousins, but it didn't make Yugi feel all warm and fuzzy.

And the longer they were forced to wait, the worse this would get.


	88. Decisions, Decisions

**Chapter 88, everybody! In which the adults discourse and the writer downloads fifty-plus articles in the name of research….On the positive side, there really and truly are scholarly articles centering on FanFiction and DeviantArt. :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Oh yes—a little sticky, but nice and warm. :D And yeah—freezing rain: bad for roads, power lines and Frost Kings. :) Heheh, I have fun writing them too. :D And yeah, that's true****—t****here may be a reason why the adults would cut them with hot chocolate, come to think of it….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Oh yes, very true….And also true—we're definitely past the midpoint by now (probably long past it, come to think of it****—I'd have to check my outline****). And that might be true too….Yes I have—apparently according to the Wikia, the line of code for the treeguards is "Leif" instead of "Lief" (the fact that Word recognizes the first one supports that, I think). But if no one's noticed by now, we should be good—that could be where I got that spelling, although it took me a few minutes to realize that you meant _Deltora Quest_ and not Dairy Queen. ^^; True…except for scary games—you want someone else (that you know) to be in the house then. *~* Although come to think of it, I don't play those sorts of games….Yes, I must! Tomorrow's the due date! I must succeed! :D Which is why Glint now sees fit to bug me to no end….And by the by, with your review, the number of reviews on _The Frost King_ now match the number of reviews for _Chaos Avatar Desertion,_ so congratulations! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The rain finally eased up late afternoon, and Wilson—after telling Yami to give "the Newport treatment" to anyone who did anything Wilson wouldn't approve of while he was gone—exited the ring of trees to try to ascertain the damage.

Mud and muck. Yes, he was expecting that.

He was also expecting how churned up it was.

The soldiers had caught up with them.

He glanced around, didn't see any in the immediate area, and quickly backed back into the ring of trees—

And promptly attempted to strangle himself upon feeling a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy, you loser, it's just me," Rae hissed.

"Do you _mind?"_ Wilson returned. "And I thought you were supposed to stay in there with the rest of them!"

"Let's be fair here—Yami isn't the best one to put in charge. He's too easy to con."

"What did you do?"

"I told him you probably wanted me to come out and keep an eye out for you."

Wilson could very easily picture Yami nodding and brightly saying "Okay!" Oi vey….

"What do you want, Miss Rae?" Wilson sighed.

"I've been thinking—"

"Oh dear," Wilson interjected.

"_And_—why don't you go with your original plan? Why go back to Frostmore?"

"Because my original plan did _not_ involve a certain white-haired individual. Bakura is an intractable, insufferable…_mule_, and having him involved in _any_ plan is a recipe for disaster."

"Your original plan involved risking whatever curse is linked to those Items."

"I didn't say my plan was perfect."

"On the positive side, if all else fails, we could throw him off the side of a mountain. Or if things get too bad—like Donner Party bad—we could use _him_ first."

"And then we'd all die of food poisoning."

"This is true."

Wilson decided to change tacks and waved a hand at the ground instead. "I need a second opinion—how do you think _they're_ fairing up here on unfamiliar terrain?"

"They were equipped with sandals and chariots," Rae said. "I'd say poorly—but they've got Akenhadin cracking the whip behind them, so it's either die up here or die down there."

"Pity that plague didn't take _him_ out."

"Suspicious, is more like."

Wilson glanced sharply at her.

"Think about it for a second," she said. "The Royals never really leave their palace, right? With extreme exceptions, of course," she amended. "But you have _you_ and the Sister Queen as technically the only carriers. And Willow, I suppose. The Royals and their servants never leave their palace, barely go out in fresh air, breathe the same air and touch the same surfaces as you…."

"What are you getting at?"

"It's a little suspicious, don't you think, that the whole palace didn't come down with it? And the ones it _did_ knock out were the ones most sympathetic to Pale Skins."

Wilson sincerely didn't like where this was going.

"What are the symptoms for them? Fevers and boils? Delirium? How hard is that to artificially produce?"

"You're suggesting cold-blooded murder," Wilson pointed out.

"And everything before that, that was all happiness and sunshine?"

Wilson bowed his head, conceding the point.

And in doing so, glimpsed something in the trees.

He sighed and waved. "Come out you two—and remind me to rattle the Frost King's antlers for being absolute rubbish at doing the one thing I ask."

Yugi and Willow at least had the decency to look chagrined as they crawled out.

"Next time, I'm giving _you_ the job," Wilson said to Rae.

"Oh joy, just what I need," she retorted, with a grin that was more a snarl. Wilson fought down a shiver—that expression was too close to the ones the beasts back in their homeland made.

"How much did you hear?" Wilson decided to ask the two eavesdroppers.

"Enough," Willow said.

"So now you see the benefit of having Bakura around," Yugi argued quickly. "We find—I guess the Millennium Puzzle is the priority here—we find that, we go back, we get rid of Akenhadin, and then everything is solved! Right?"

_"Wrong,"_ Wilson returned. "This isn't a fairy tale—you don't go riding into the palace on your magic steed with your woodland friends flanking you and demand that the false king step down from his throne. You may have the higher ranking there, but Akenhadin has the pull—plus, he has more experience, _plus_ he's more conniving than you could ever _hope_ to be."

"I can be conniving," Yugi argued. Then, to Willow: "Which one is conniving again?"

"The one that always describes the villains," Willow supplied. "But that's all right, I can be conniving for you—I've had enough practice on Wilson."

"That you have," Wilson said. "And I've had about enough of this," he added, ushering them back to the trees.

Yugi waved frantically before pointing at the ground. "Them! They're on their way to Frostmore, right? You said that Akenhadin's forcing them, right? That means they really don't want to. And who has more pull than Akenhadin, or even the Brother Prince?"

Wilson decided he may have to revise his opinion on Yugi's ability to connive.

Or maybe he should be giving the credit to Willow, considering she was the one nodding. "The Crown Prince."

"Let me guess," Wilson said blandly. "You hope to use Bakura to find the Millennium Puzzle, which will then magically turn the Frost King into the Crown Prince and thus solve all our problems?"

Yugi and Willow exchanged glances.

"Uh, yeah," Yugi muttered.

"That was pretty much it," Willow agreed.

Wilson exchanged glances with Rae.

"That would be much too tidy for our level of luck," Rae pointed out.

Wilson nodded. "We'd find the Millennium Puzzle, most definitely—tied to the corpse of the Crown Prince."

Yugi and Willow shuddered.

Rae held up a finger. "_But_," she noised. "The Millennium Puzzle is the symbol of the Crown King's power. It outranks Akenhadin and that creepy Eye of his."

"Oh dear, now _you're_ plotting," Wilson noised.

"If the _Brother_ Prince had the Millennium Puzzle…."

"As his somewhat legal guardian, you are _not_ throwing him under the bus like that."

"What's a bus?" Willow asked.

Yugi, however, looked pensive.

"Would that work?" he asked.

Rae shrugged. "In theory—it's why the Crown Prince had it. One downside though: if _you_ wear it and show yourself to all those killjoys, that means _you're_ the next king—which means you're tied to that throne until someone takes your place. Or you die. Whichever comes first."

_That_ seemed decidedly unpalatable to Yugi. And to Willow, if the sudden burst of unspoken conversation they had was any indication—she looked angry, while Yugi looked apologetic.

Rae looked to Wilson and pointed at the silent argument. Wilson merely shrugged—he had long ago resigned himself to the peculiarity of their conversational abilities.

One of the trees rustled.

"_See?"_ Willow snapped, pointing. "My point exactly!"

Yugi looked confused. "Wait, _what?"_

"Did the _tree_ just kibitz?" Rae asked.

"I don't know," Wilson said. "I feel as though I've lost all track of this conversation."

"Since when do you understand Lief-speak?" Yugi asked, pointing at Willow.

"I'm just naturally assuming that because it heard the whole conversation, it said something sensible," Willow said. The tree rustled again.

"You _do_ know what it means to assume?" Rae asked.

"Don't explain it," Wilson ordered.

"Why not?"

"Because I know the phrase you'll use to do so—don't do it."

"Does it _have_ to be me or Yami?" Yugi asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Wilson sighed. "Power in the Royal family is passed down from one generation to the next—they don't hand it to someone outside of their bloodline; otherwise, Hannah would be the next candidate."

"She would handle running a kingdom well," Willow said.

Yugi nodded. "Anyone who misbehaved would be grounded for a year."

"Maybe that's Akenhadin's problem," Rae said, nudging Wilson. "Inbreeding."

"_Ew,_" Yugi and Willow noised.

Wilson waved them all off before pressing his hands to his face. Oi….

"I need to think," he declared finally, removing his hands to emote properly. "We can't do anything until morning—I'll make my decision then."

Willow and Yugi exchanged glances, then walked back into the trees without a word.

"You ever think you're taking on too much?" Rae asked.

"All. The. Bloody. Time," Wilson sighed through gritted teeth. "But I don't trust anyone else to navigate these difficulties properly."

Rae shrugged. "Fair enough—but you're going to die of stress at this rate."

And with that, she followed the others into the shelter of the trees.

Wilson sighed, sagging. Yes, that was true….And he had lied somewhat—if Hannah were here, he would have trusted _her_, with her uncanny ability to navigate any difficulty by using only her head and her tongue.

It was too much to hope, he figured, that Yugi had inherited that talent.

"And what are _you_ looking at?" he snapped at the nearest pine tree.

It shook itself—Wilson translated that as _not much._

"I'm talking to a _tree,"_ he muttered, then shook his head and took a deep breath to compose himself.

_"Wilson!"_

Wilson leapt nearly a foot in the air, barely touching down in the mud before hustling forward at the cry—

He burst through the trees—

And stopped dead, absolutely confused by what he was seeing.

It took a few moments for it to register: Yugi and Willow were scolding Yami, Rae was laughing, Joey and Tristan were being _very_ busy with stick collecting, and Teana and Serenity were building up the fire, next to which a _very_ disgruntled Bakura was huddled.

Why was answered by the thick crust of frost on Bakura's back.

"Wilson said not to let anyone do anything he wouldn't approve of!" Yami argued finally. "And he doesn't approve of Bakura at all!"

"I take back what I said earlier," Rae said to Wilson, wiping tears out of her eyes. "Apparently it's hard to pull the wool over Yami's eyes."

At the very least, it meant that Yami was good at reading a situation.

Wilson sighed again, sagging.

This was going to be tough.


	89. Opinions of the Frost King

**Chapter 89, ladies and gents! In which we see Yami's opinion of everybody, the story breaks the 100,000-word mark, and the Frost King visits the writer again and this time settles in for the long haul. Yami, go back in your story….**

**Also, we've beaten the longest-chapter-of-the-story record again.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! No, they can't—and that might take a terribly long time, come to think of it….Ooo—I feel your pain. We don't use short-needle pines because they attacked Mom as a child, but the long-needle variety is just as pokey, with the added benefit of being able to go up the nose. *~* Fir cones as a projectile weapon sound legit, though. :) And it has! Such fun****….And ****good question….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! It went on vacation—it'll be back later. No problem—so have I. but the good news is, it's ****_done_****. Now to await the grade….This is true…and I think I'll be sticking to the spelling I've been using—it's an easy fix with Word, but considering we're now 89 chapters in, that would be a lot of work to go back and change every single chapter (besides, I like that spelling :)). Ah, count yourself lucky—we're treated to a number of annoying commercials about them on the TV. That said, the Dairy Queen ****_does_**** make delicious banana splits. :D Yes…although there are some that can be scary without realizing it (those slow-realization moments—fridge horror, I think it's called). Of course! On the positive side, I threw him into some duct tape while I was busy, and have spent the last couple of days jotting down all the lovely world notes I've been getting (and detailing a couple of new characters that showed up too). It did! Now this one will be the one to beat for me! ^^ Ah, so you're the one causing those big spikes in my views (not that I'm complaining :D). Yes, go do that. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wilson stayed up that night, tending the fire occasionally, but mostly just staring into it and turning over the whole debacle that was their current situation in his head.

Let's review, he decided. For starters, the Pale Skins' attempt to escape persecution had been turned on its head. That was understood.

Moving on from there, after having to depart from Frostmore to save Joey and Serenity, attempts to permanently do so for everyone were ruined when the Frost King fell ill due to warm weather. That put ferrying people back and forth (assuming, of course, that they didn't just _shoot_ Yami) out of the question.

But he had developed a backup plan. Unfortunately, _said_ backup plan of having the Kul Elna Thieves assist in a rescue while Wilson temporarily liberated the Millennium Ring (_liberated _being the chosen word because _stealing_ had been…distasteful to his gentleman mind) to answer a few of his own questions had been derailed upon three of his young charges decidedly _not_ listening to him. And then having to rescue one from the Royals!

Yugi's hunted and haggard appearance when Wilson had rescued him—coupled with that heartbreaking breakdown Yugi had had in the desert—made part of his decision easy: there was absolutely no way he was putting Yugi into a position where he'd even have to _think_ about the palace ever again.

So that was one option out.

And then there was Yami.

Wilson's suspicions had started upon first seeing the Frost King up close and personal. The horror that he had mentally built the beast up to be ever since he had first encountered it had quickly been dashed upon getting to know Yami. He was very much like a large, cold, antlered version of Chester: infinitely curious, friendly, loyal….

And _lonely_, he realized—just plain lonely.

And obviously much cleverer than any of them had first given him credit for. _Wilson doesn't approve of Bakura._ Of course he didn't—Bakura may have been a thief, but he was also a liar and a cheat, and Wilson had been the target of more than one of his and the Crown Prince's ill-mannered pranks. To say that Wilson didn't approve of Bakura was actually putting it mildly.

And Yami had picked up on that, and had formulated his own opinion of Bakura based on that. He noticed that Wilson didn't like him; therefore, _Yami_ didn't like him.

Which was ironic, if what was rapidly becoming the most popular theory was true.

Was the Frost King the Crown Prince?

Wilson scowled at that. If it were the case, that was a doozy of a transmogrification. Yami might have looked vaguely human, but the proportions were all wrong—limbs too long, chest too round, face closer to a wolf's….

But then again, he had seen similar transformations before.

He took comfort in the fact that the beasts from his homeland couldn't tolerate the cold—Yami being one of them was a bit of a stretch thanks to that.

Of course, if that wasn't the answer, then it bore asking what was.

And if that wasn't the answer…then it meant it was reversible, most likely.

It was why he had wanted the Millennium Ring—to find the Millennium Puzzle and make absolutely certain one way or the other.

Although, he supposed, the chances of that were slim—most likely, the Crown Prince's body was either fully preserved on a mountain somewhere, or had long ago been eaten by one of the great white bears roaming the countryside. Or wolves. Wolves were also a possibility.

He realized he was getting mighty cold on one side and looked to see the cause: Yami, of course, laying on the ground next to him in that begging-concerned-for-you stance that Chester was fond of.

"You're going to have to wait until breakfast if you want any more," Wilson informed him, already internally panicking that once again, their little group would be on the brink of starvation.

The Donner Party, Rae had mentioned earlier. Frostmore had been reduced to boiling leather for nutrients in-between kills before they had left—which had been the last step before cannibalism for that ill-fated party.

Yami flattened his ears before flicking them forward again. "You're upset," he deduced.

Wilson figured that must have been obvious. "I'm tired—there's a difference."

"Then why don't you sleep?"

"Because someone has to make the decisions around here, and the only time I can actually hear my own counsel is when everyone else is asleep." Although he'd have to get some sleep soon—that sounded snappish.

Yami looked down, looking concerned.

"Why don't you like Bakura?" Wilson decided to ask.

Yami's ears and eyes went back up. "Because you don't like him."

"That's not a good reason."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"Elaboration, please."

"What's that mean?"

"It means give me a larger answer with more detail."

Yami's ears swiveled; he was thinking. "Because I trust you."

Ow.

"And I don't like that ring-thing Bakura has," Yami continued, nose wrinkling. "It's…I don't know what it is about it, but I don't like it. It…has bad vibes—Rae told me about those. You're supposed to listen when you feel inside that something's not right, she said."

Well, that added an interesting wrinkle—why would Yami dislike the Millennium Items? The so-called curse? Memories of wearing one? And of the fate that awaited the Crown Prince upon return?

That was, _if_ he was the Crown Prince—and _if_ he had some sort of nebulous mental residue that hinted at submerged or forgotten memories.

"Wise counsel," Wilson decided to say finally. "And if you don't mind me asking: why do you like Rae?"

"She's nice," Yami said. Then, as though remembering that Wilson had asked for elaboration: "She makes ice, and she tells stories, and she told me all about all sorts of things, and she introduced me to her chickens…."

Wilson let him prattle a bit, mildly surprised at this…_nice_ side of Rae that he had not really had the opportunity to encounter. He had hashed out his suspicions with her…had that influenced her behavior? Or had she taken Yami at face value: a curious creature who thrived under attention?

"Hmm," Wilson noised, once Yami had finally finished his laundry list of why Rae was so nice. "And what about Teana?"

"She's nice," Yami said, thinking. "She's nice to people. And she kind of smiles when she looks at me, but she's sad too."

He had noticed how she had watched the Frost King, first with trepidation, then searchingly upon hearing his name. He could guess why.

"Moving on," Wilson continued. "What about Serenity?"

"She's nice—she helped Rae and Willow, and she scratches this spot right behind my ears—she hasn't done that lately, though…."

"What about Joey?"

"He reminds me of some of my wolf friends—he growls at people but he's nice and he protects people important to him—"

"And Tristan?"

"He's quiet," Yami said. "But he's kind of like you in that he thinks things through, and he keeps Joey out of trouble, and he was nice to me before Joey was—"

"Yes, I remember—that would have been grounds for _not_ liking them, in my book."

"Yeah, but you and Willow and Yugi liked them—"

"And what about me?" Wilson asked, shifting to face him better and propping his fist against his chin—he was genuinely interested in the conversation now. "What was your first impression of me?"

Yami lifted his head slightly and swiveled his ears again. "Well, I was happy to finally know what a Wilson was—Yugi and Willow hadn't exactly given me a good answer, because I didn't know what a _gentleman scientist _or a _ward_ was—but you were scary, a little, because you were loud and a little angry—"

Of course—knowing that Willow and Yugi had kept such a dangerous secret…wait, what?

"_You_ were _scared_ of _me?"_ Wilson asked, an edge of laughter sneaking into his voice despite himself.

Yami nodded, sitting up lion-style now. "You told me to go away and not come back. But then Willow and Yugi said something and you changed your mind, and then you were nice and told me about all sorts of things that I never knew about, like middle names." Yami smiled and nodded at that. Oi, he pleased easily. "And you care about people and you worry about keeping everyone safe—I think I get now why you wanted me to go away: you were worried about Willow and Yugi."

Again, showing more insight than Wilson had initially given him credit for. "And what do you think of Willow?"

Yami brightened. "She actually holds _fire_—that's impressive, because I thought it burns everything it touches."

One of the trees shook at that.

"I'm guessing you got that tidbit from one of the…treeguards," Wilson deduced.

"Lief told me," Yami said. "And she's nice and she and Yugi are really close and she knows some things that Yugi doesn't. Lief is nice too, but he denies it."

If Wilson didn't know any better, he'd say that two of the trees were now having a conversation—and _laughing_—Yami was right: he needed sleep.

"Well, last one, I suppose," Wilson said, watching Yami carefully. "What is your opinion of Yugi?"

"Yugi's nice," Yami said decisively. "He's nice to _me,_ and he's nice to a lot of people, and he gives me soup and biscuits with bacon, and he knows a lot."

The way to the Frost King's heart was through his stomach, apparently.

Yami had rested his head down and was now looking at the fire with a…sadly pensive or pensively sad expression—Wilson couldn't decide which.

"He knew what I was when I didn't have a clue," Yami said quietly.

Ow. Just….

Wilson sat back and stared at the fire, arms limp on his legs. Yami was _beyond_ lonely, apparently.

Or, he had been.

"Before you met Yugi, what was your life like?" Wilson decided to ask.

Yami's expression didn't much change, but his eyes became slightly distant.

"I…didn't like it," Yami said finally. "I wasn't anything like anything I knew, and I didn't really know anything…I didn't belong anywhere."

Ow. "And what about now?"

Yami gave it some thought before smiling.

"I belong somewhere, I think," he said. "With people that know things and are willing to teach me. I…I feel…warm. This is warm, isn't it?" he asked, looking at Wilson suddenly. "Not like that yucky hot down the mountain or the hot from the fire—this is what you mean when you say _I feel warm_, right?"

Asking Wilson to identify an emotion Yami was feeling was a bit silly, Wilson felt.

Especially when he was having a hard enough time with his own.

"I suppose so," Wilson said finally.

Yami, however, had warmed to the topic, if the way his tail was flopping about was any indication. "Moon-Back tried explaining packs to me once—I didn't get it then, but I think I get it now….Does that make you pack leader?" he asked Wilson, ears pricked forward with interest.

"It's a tenuous position," Wilson declared.

"What's 'tenuous' mean?"

"It means it's unstable—I try to make the best decisions for everyone, but if it falls apart…."

Wilson trailed off, recognizing his dilemma.

He tried to make the best decisions for everyone, yes.

But the prospects ahead of him were such that he couldn't even _picture_ an ending where everyone would benefit.

Someone would have to pay.

And looking back at Yami, who was now looking at him with concern, Wilson realized that option two was just as bad as the first. Forget the question of the Frost King's true identity—he wanted to visit that fate on Yami about as much as he wanted to visit it on Yugi: not at all.

Which meant that he'd have to go with a third option.

The trouble was, he didn't _have_ a third option.

Yami dipped his head and brought it back up. "You need sleep," he declared brightly, apparently pleased with his deductions. "I'll keep an eye on the fire, and the trees will keep an eye on everything else. Won't you?" he asked, looking at the nearest one. It shook in response.

Wilson wasn't sure how he'd ever get to sleep with his mind running like it was, but he supposed it was the best option at this point. "Wake me if the fire gets low," he said, standing up to get a straw mat on the ground—he had spent most of the last couple of days making them.

"I know how to feed a fire," Yami said. At Wilson's incredulous look: "I've been watching you."

Four words that were terrifying no matter who said them.

"Good night, Yami," Wilson said, laying the straw mat out and laying on it.

"Good night. And don't worry—I know you'll make the best decision."

Wilson froze, feeling struck; he couldn't help but roll over to watch Yami pace away to a comfortable distance from the fire and sit back down, humming to himself.

Wilson lay on his back, staring at the night sky.

_If I could take on the burden myself, I would,_ he thought.

But he couldn't.

He needed a third option.

And he simply didn't have one.

Which left the only decision an untenable one.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

_I'm going forward because we have to do something, but I'll run out of rope sooner or later._

_Just….I need a plan. A better one._

_Give me a third option._

_Please._


	90. Assigning Navigators

**Chapter 90, everybody! In which Wilson experiences intense pain both in-story and in the new ****_Don't Starve: Shipwrecked_**** DLC that I've been playing….Once again, we're discovering whole new ways for Wilson to meet his unfortunate demise. In other news, the Frost King is camped out outside my window, and his presence seems to have summoned the mother of all snowstorms to hit the East Coast. Yami, I'll give you all the soup you can eat if you'll just ****_please,_**** get back in the story!**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Ah good, I'm glad you like it—I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with that chapter, and then that happened, but I like how it turned out. :D Nah—it's just plain old-fashioned he-misses-his-dog-slash-Yami's-behavior-is-vaguely-dog-like. Kind of like how we refer to our current dog by one of the dead dogs' names (it happens more than you'd expect). I do like the Ba/Ka theory—I need to see if that can't be worked in somehow….Yes, they do have to move on, and no one wants to leave our favorite Frost King alone—otherwise he starts visiting writers and attracting large snowstorms….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Well, to make up for that, something I keep forgetting to mention: apparently, my AOL e-mail considers "sissy" to be on-par with much stronger words and censored it—I noticed that when I was going through and sorting e-mails…weird….Moving on: yes, it would. And it turns out Lief has tropical cousins as well….That makes sense, I suppose (watch this be the year that DQ comes to Australia). Ooh, I ****_hate_**** jumpscares—and yet for me fridge horror is what gets to me, because I always remember it as I'm going to bed. ****_No sleep._**** Don't worry! A combination of duct tape, bribery, and ****_Don't Starve: Shipwrecked _****have been keeping him around a bit longer than normal. Daah, you make me blush. ^^ I need to bump up progress on related material, methinks….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The fact that they were packing up today and harnessing Yami up gave Yugi hope for some forward progress—it was nice being with his friends again, but the more distance they put between them and those soldiers, the better.

They weren't leaving yet, though—Wilson had arranged them in a cluster and was now standing in front of them, looking like he wanted to talk and yet debating it intensely.

Rae cleared her throat, prompting Wilson to speak finally.

"Well," he said, then cleared his throat and tried again. "With the soldiers ahead of us now, we can't exactly head back to Frostmore—doing so was debatable once they were on our trail anyway, considering they could have followed us straight there.

"Which forces me to go with a different option."

Yugi and Willow exchanged glances—they had seen his eye twitching.

"We are going to—and I can't believe the words that are coming out of my mouth," Wilson grumbled, stiff-arming Bakura as he said something in an increasingly muted grumble—but _follow_ and _Bakura_ had been in there.

"Wow," Bakura said flatly once Wilson finished. "That killed you, didn't it?"

_"Ye-es,"_ Wilson wheezed, dropping his arm and looking skywards for support. Willow couldn't help but start laughing at him.

_"But!"_ Wilson snapped, before Bakura could say anything more. "Before you go flying off on your high horse, I want to make one thing _perfectly_ clear."

And with that, he pointed straight at Yami, who went cross-eyed trying to keep the tip of his finger in his sight.

_"He_ gets the final say on the paths we take," Wilson stated flatly.

Bakura was appropriately offended. "What, don't you trust me?"

"Not even as far as I could throw you."

"How far _would_ that be?" Rae asked.

"It could be _remarkably_ far, if I had enough time to build a catapult," Wilson mused, scratching his nose. "But that's not relevant to our current situation. Tell me, Bakura: what do you know of the Millennium Items?"

"They're cursed," Bakura said flatly.

"They're cursed. What that entails, I don't rightly know, but I _do_ know they have a tendency to impair one's judgement. Akenhadin's issue may be due to that Eye of his leeching poison straight to his brain."

The general consensus to _that_ was disgusted horror.

"Why doesn't he take it off, then?" Serenity asked.

"He can't," Yugi said. "I saw him up close—it's in his face where an eye used to be."

Serenity flinched and covered her face with her hands, burrowing into Joey's side with a shiver.

"Too much information, Yug'," Joey said.

"Sorry," Yugi said, chagrined.

"Moving on," Wilson said, testily. "We've established that Ring of yours can find things. Most likely, it finds the straightest line between two points, which may very well be highly dangerous. The Frost King got us _off_ the mountain safely—I'm confident in his ability to get us back _up_ the mountain in similar condition."

Yugi looked at Willow again, eyebrows up—this was certainly different from when Wilson had first encountered Yami.

They looked at Yami to see his ears swiveling.

"Fine," Bakura spat. "But don't you freeze me no more," he added, directing this at Yami.

"Okay," Yami said, glancing at Wilson.

Willow elbowed Yugi. "That was a double negative," she hissed out of the side of her mouth.

Yugi struggled to hide his grin; ah, loopholes.

"Good," Wilson declared. "Now that that's settled—let's get going."

They left the circle of trees—after Yami said goodbye to each and every tree. The rest of them did too, after some consideration, although Bakura grumbled his.

Once that was done, Bakura checked the Millennium Ring and pointed the direction to take. Yami checked that and trotted away, apparently agreeing with Bakura on direction.

Yugi couldn't help but glance back at the copse of trees that had sheltered them.

One of the pines had a branch-like limb extended, waving.

Yugi waved back as they left.

"In a weird way, I'm going to miss those guys," Willow opined.

Yugi nodded assent. "I think Lief must have a _lot_ of cousins," he said.

"And Yami'll stop to talk to every single one of them."

"No doubt."

"And they'll run away as fast as they can."

Yugi laughed at that, and took a deep breath of fresh air still tinged with rain.

He was going home.

* * *

When the party crossed the first ridge, the copse of pine trees stood and departed.

There were things to discuss.


	91. Flakes

**Chapter 91, everybody! In which the writer needs to work on the buffer again…the snow isn't being as inspiring as I'd like it to be….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes indeed! It is awful where it hit hard, but it missed us for the most part, fortunately—just a lot of pretty, fluffy snow. And now it's melting. Knee-wrenching mud awaits! Heheh—part of the inspiration for Frostmore was a couple of winters spent in Montana, so that's pretty accurate. And thank you—we will! ^^ Heh, I had that planned for weeks, so finally getting to write it was fun. :D And yes, that would be a problem….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes….And I don't know—people are becoming too sensitive, I guess (plotting a scene for ****_Glint and the Pirates_**** and very quickly discarded mention of the word "retard" because I knew how that would be taken). That would….Heh, I have poor eyesight too, so come to think of it, ****_any_**** horror is the sort to keep me up at night. *-* And I think all houses make weird noises at night—normally I do a quick prayer regarding personal safety when those happen (and with snow melting and falling off the roof, they've become a tad more frequent). Again, you make me blush, but thank you. :D And now I feel especially good about this one too—I must strive to continue to please! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**White Christmas ****© 1954 Michael Curtiz _("Snow...")_**

It took several days before any notable progress was made.

Yugi decided then and there that he did not like going _up_ things.

For one, it strained Yami too much. If it strained Yami, then that meant they had to walk to _keep_ from straining him. And walking was exhausting.

But every time they looked back, it was to see that they were steadily getting higher.

During one of their frequent breaks (it still wasn't cold enough for Yami to push himself), Yugi and Willow stood on a rocky outcropping, pretending they were Wilson and Hannah, looking back and cheering their timely escape. It didn't require much effort on Yugi's part.

"That rain dumped a lot of water on the mountain—did you notice?" Willow asked as they peered across the vast expanse of the Great Swamp. It had more pine trees than Yugi remembered.

"Yeah," Yugi noised, nodding—they had been dodging streams and rivers the whole way up.

"Maybe we're lucky and it washed down all those lousy soldiers."

"I'm with Rae on that one—our luck can't be that good."

"Think positive."

"I'm _positive_ our luck isn't that good."

Rae, meanwhile, was looking forward.

"Say, so which one of these mountains is Frostmore behind?" she asked, pointing. Her gun was slung uselessly in her elbow—general consensus was that gunshots would attract the soldiers, and she had grudgingly conceded that point. Rabbit hunting was being conducted by Joey and Tristan with bow, arrow, and trap.

"That big one with all the snow on it—you can't miss it," Wilson said, waving over his shoulder. He was much too busy with his notes to actually turn and look.

Rae looked; Teana came up next to her and similarly peered at the range.

Yugi looked too, wondering what was taking them so long to pick it out….

"Wilson," he noised finally.

"What?" Wilson asked, still in his notes.

"You need to look at the mountain."

Wilson sighed, turned and did so….

And stood up from his sitting position.

"Well?" Rae asked, as he came over to look at the range better.

He finally pointed. "It's…that one, right there," he said slowly, with an uncertain note to his voice. "Except…it doesn't _nearly_ have the amount of snow it had when we left."

Silence.

"Maybe it melted," Serenity said. "Like—is it springtime already?"

"It most definitely melted," Wilson said, scratching his head. "_That's_ where all the water's been coming from—it's runoff from the melted snow. But _why_ did it melt?"

"Global warming," Rae said, not missing a beat.

"I highly doubt that."

"We'll all fry because of it—that's the rumor."

Willow looked distinctly brighter at that news.

"I'm fairly certain we're years away from suffering a total heat death," Wilson countered. "No…it must have warmed up on the mountain somewhat."

Silence.

Then, as one, everyone turned to look at Yami, who was preoccupied with a butterfly fluttering by.

It froze when it landed on his nose.

Yugi ran over quickly and plucked it off when he noted Yami's dejected look.

"What was it?" Yami asked.

Yugi noted the past tense. "It's a butterfly," he said, putting it by the cooking fire so it could thaw. "They…uh…make butter."

"What?" Bakura asked flatly, from his position hunched over the fire—it had been a normal stance for him ever since Yami frosted him.

"It's game logic, Bakura," Rae said. "Go with it."

* * *

About a week after that episode, something occurred that put everyone in high spirits.

Something white drifted past Yugi's nose.

"I think I just saw a flake," Yugi declared.

"I see a _lot_ of flakes," Rae said.

"No wait, I see one too," Willow said. "A flake-flake—a _snow_flake."

Yami had stopped and sat down, head tipped up and watching the gunmetal gray sky.

Soon, a steady flurry was tumbling down.

_"_Okay, I'll start it," Rae noised. Then, in a clear note: _"Snow…."_

"No," Bakura moaned, matching her tone.

"Hey, you're heading up a mountain—what did you expect?"

Yugi walked up to Yami and watched him carefully. "How are you feeling?" he decided to ask.

Yami inhaled deeply.

"I feel…good. I feel really good," he answered, smiling. "Can we have biscuits and bacon tonight?"

Yugi looked to Willow.

"Do you get the feeling you could get Yami to agree to anything if you accompanied it with foodstuffs?" she asked.

"I'm beginning to get that drift," Yugi responded.

"I wouldn't agree to _anything,"_ Yami countered, still watching the snow fall. "But I _would_ agree to soup, if biscuits and bacon doesn't work out."

"Can we get back to moving, please?" Bakura asked. "I don't want to turn into a snowman."

"Woah, he said _please,"_ Rae said in mock-awe. "He _must_ be getting desperate. Well then, on James."

Nothing happened.

"_Mush,_ Yami," Wilson said.

Yami started off again.

"It's all in how you say it," Wilson said sagely.

Willow and Yugi spent a moment reminiscing about Wilson's ridiculously girly screams the _first_ time Yami had ever been given that order.

Ah, bliss.


	92. Minor Conflicts

**Chapter 92, everybody! In which snow is discussed and the writer must write more….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Ah, such a pity—my sympathies on the wind and rain and such (tis the season for icky weather—we got a blustery storm yesterday). Yes! It's supposed to be sixty next week! And raining. We'll take it anyway. Yes, it could be a problem! On the positive side, the mountain is flooding and there is a ****_lot_**** of mud to slog through now. And don't worry, he will. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes—****_"Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind…."_**** Yes, I know—Mom and I had a nice conversation about that the other day; general consensus is that the world needs to grow a backbone again (and yes, where you say it is important—and now I kind of want to move to Australia). And then there are the people who ****_love_**** horror—what's up with that? Come to think of it, our house ****_is_**** thirty-some years old….Yes, here's hoping! (excited fist pump)—now if only Yami will cooperate. In other news, Glint has finally decided to grace me with his presence—the first part of the two-parter pilot rewrite is finished. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Progress from then on was made through a light dusting of snow.

Then a slightly heavier dusting of snow.

And then more….

And then more….

Until finally the snow was ankle deep as they forged ahead, and steadily deepening.

"It's not _nice_ snow, though," Willow complained, scooping some up. "I can't make any snowballs from it."

"Darn stuff," Yugi said.

"It'll get better," Yami assured them. "Up ahead, it'll get nice and deep and sticky—great for snowmen, and snowballs, and snow forts, and running around and rolling in…."

"You just can't get that with sand," Willow said, agreeing.

"I don't like sand. It's…not snow."

"Agreed. And it gets everywhere. And it's gritty."

"It's why the world is so varied," Rae said, on their left flank today. "So everyone can find a place they like and settle down. And then governments and politicians and rulers come in and spoil everything."

"They shouldn't do that," Yami said. "What are governments and politicians and rulers?"

"You ever get fleas?"

"I haven't, but the wolves I know have."

"They're kind of like that. Or ticks—little bloodsuckers that get fat and lazy."

Yami shuddered from head to tail at that—and released a flurry from his fur as he did so.

"Good sign," Yugi said to Willow.

"Very good," Willow agreed.

Indeed, Yami had steadily been increasing in strength as the snow deepened. At least something positive was coming out of all this. It was hard to think positively with the adults worrying and grumbling like they were.

"Maybe this is why they always send the kids off by themselves in stories," Yugi postulated.

"Maybe," Willow agreed. "Adults don't seem to have much use in these situations."

"I heard that," Wilson stated. "And stop using fiction to try to justify going off on your own."

"He's got a point," Rae stated. "The only thing that protects kids in stories is plot armor."

"I thought it was because the kids were smarter," Willow countered.

"That becomes less impressive when you realize that adults are those who survived childhood."

Willow was quiet for a long time as she processed that.

"It makes more sense if you recall how sucky Wilson's childhood was," Yugi said.

"This is true," Willow agreed.

"Joy, I'm a cautionary tale now," Wilson moaned.

"Isn't that what adults _are?"_ Rae asked him.

"I'm not talking to you anymore."

"You say that like it's supposed to hurt my feelings."

"Adults," Willow said sagely. "Can't live with them, can't do anything without them."

"Be fair, Willow," Yugi said, smiling. "Would _you_ want to take care of a bunch of kids like _us?"_

Willow was quiet as she considered this.

She was pouting when she finally answered him. "Don't use logic against me."

"Yay! I win," Yugi cheered.

"Won what?" Yami asked.

"The argument."

"What's an argument?"

"It's when people disagree on something."

"Oh." Yami considered this. "There's been a _lot_ of arguments then, hasn't there?"

"With our group, or with the world as a whole?" Rae asked.

"You mean there are _other_ people who do that?" Yami asked, dismayed.

"Behold, conflict," Rae said, pulling away. "How humans have been solving their problems since the Fall of Man."

Yami flattened his ears. "I don't think I like that," he said.

"Not everyone can agree with each other all the time," Yugi told him.

"Yeah," Willow said. "Some people just have to be difficult."

"Why were you looking at me when you said that?"

"Because."

"That's not a good reason."

"There you are, trying to use logic to win again," Willow pointed out.

"It works for Wilson."

"Wilson's different."

"How so?"

Willow gave that some thought.

"I quit," she said, walking away.

"Does that mean I win that one? Hello? Willow?"

Yami watched her go before looking at Yugi.

"I don't think I like arguments," Yami said again.

"Me neither," Yugi agreed.


	93. Tracks

**Chapter 93, everybody, and hot off the presses! Motivation on stories is trying to switch to my Springtime season, as Yami did not see his shadow and there will not be six more weeks of winter. Or maybe it's that groundhog's fault (happy Groundhog Day, by the way).**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! He can try—I'll send him over. I know! Sixty degrees tomorrow here! It's incredible! :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Tis true, tis true—I have quite a few from my first two years of college that I like to recall on occasion. That does help—and yes….That seems to be a brother thing—send him to his room when he gets into that sort of thing. And yes! But now Thanos has thrown a really great script my way, and the intrigue means I have to focus on that one (it involves cowboys and hanging versus bounty hunters! What's not to love? And Thanos being his usual epic self). I'll get back to you Glint, I promise! Now where's that duct tape?...**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The snow was finally turning slushy like Yami had said, which made slogging through it harder.

On the positive side, Yami was now finally strong enough to carry them for extended periods of time. They still had to stop on a regular basis, but Yami was improving, which was good.

And then they came upon the tracks.

Snow had been churned up into a muddy mess, done so by thousands of footsteps. A sandal was abandoned in the muck.

"We seem to have caught up with the soldiers," Wilson observed.

Yami sniffed at the mud experimentally before trotting away, parallel to the tracks.

"Where are you going?" Willow asked.

"This way," Yami said.

"Yes, I can see that—why are you going in the same direction the bad guys are?"

"I agree with the short stack," Bakura said, one finger up as he consulted the Ring.

"We do not insult people under my nose," Wilson said testily. "Especially when I care a lot more for her than I do for you."

"And what are you going to do about it?"

"What was that the Royals do? Cut out tongues?"

"You wouldn't need a tongue to point us in the right direction," Rae agreed.

Yugi had to fight to keep from gagging at the thought.

"Ha ha, aren't you the riot," Bakura muttered, sounding like he was taking the threat seriously. "Hey, what are you doing agreeing with him?"

Yugi turned to look, confused, to see that the prongs on the Ring were pointing in the same direction that Yami was taking them.

"I told you that thing didn't have our best interests at heart," Wilson said.

"And yet _you_ were planning on using it," Rae pointed out.

"Don't question my logic."

"Where are we going?" Serenity asked.

"Nowhere," Tristan said. "We've stopped."

Yugi blinked, looked around—realized they had reached a clearing and Yami had sat down.

"I'll be good in a minute," Yami said, laying down.

Yugi shrugged at Willow, stood up to stretch his legs—

And noticed Wilson looking around too.

"What is it?" Yugi asked, as the gentleman scientist started pacing about the clearing. Yugi looked down to see more footprints—nothing new.

"Hey wait," Joey said, looking around. "I see it too."

"What?" Willow asked.

"There and there and there—there's footprints branching off on all the paths."

"So no matter which one we take, we'll run into those goons," Tristan muttered.

Wilson, meanwhile, had turned to Rae, who had walked up to him.

"Do you know what this means?" he asked her.

"They're lost?" Rae guessed.

"They're lost," Wilson repeated, looking somewhere between ecstatic and hysterical and sounding about the same. "They're lost—they have no idea where Frostmore is."

Rae looked confused for a few moments before it apparently registered with her too. "_Oohhh—_well, whaddaya know, we _do_ have a spot of luck after all!"

"I missed something," Teana said.

"I did too," Yugi said as Willow nodded.

"Don't you get it?" Rae asked. "We've got some breathing room now."

"They can't find Frostmore," Wilson said. "Which means that Akenhadin can't use them as hostages. Granted, barring accidents, they _will_ find them at this rate," he added, gesturing around.

"There's the depressing Wilson we all know and love," Willow said brightly.

"But this makes up for our week of inactivity and slow going," Wilson finished, ignoring the jibe.

"So we can get the Millennium Puzzle before they can get Mom," Yugi said.

"Precisely."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Willow asked. "Let's go!"

Yugi nodded and ran around to Yami. "Well?" he asked. "What do you think?"

"Biscuits and bacon," Yami said.

"Do you think of _nothing_ but your stomach?" Rae asked.

"No," Yami said. "But I'm hungry."

Rae rolled her eyes, but Serenity had already solved the problem, pulling out a piece of jerky and handing it off to Willow, who gave it to Yami.

"It's jerky," she told him. "It's like bacon, but drier and saltier."

Yami sniffed it before taking it.

"So which way?" Yugi asked, turning to look at the others as Yami ate—maybe that'd be enough to tide him over until dinner.

Joey and Tristan were looking down side trails while Bakura was consulting the Ring. "That way," Bakura said finally, pointing.

About that time, Yami made a _blah_ noise, prompting Yugi to look—Yami was currently eating as much snow as he possibly could.

"Don't eat that," Yugi chided, waving his hands at him.

"Yami, people have been walking on that," Willow said.

"That was _awful_," Yami moaned, still eating. "My mouth is all funny, and I'm really thirsty now."

"That's what happens when you eat jerky," Willow said.

"Sorry," Serenity said.

Yami made a few smacking noises with his mouth, face still registering disgust, but he stood up all the same and started walking away.

"No, _this_ way," Bakura said.

Yami looked over. "No," he said simply. "It's not safe that way."

And with that, he continued on.

Yugi and Willow exchanged glances; this was the first time that Yami had diverged from the paths Bakura had been picking. Something must have changed somewhere.

Yugi grimaced at Willow's _duh_ face and sulked a bit as he followed.

"Come now, don't make that face," Wilson chided, sounding a bit happier than he had been. "You look like Bakura when you do that."

Yugi made a noise not unlike Yami's upon eating the jerky, and tried for a more neutral face.

Bakura, meanwhile, had not stopped his muttered soliloquy that only Teana seemed to be paying much attention to.

"…I'm just saying that I would have liked more of an explanation than 'it's not safe,'" he said. "'There's an ambush down that way' or something like that."

"Would that have made you feel better?" Teana asked, with the tone of someone used to these sorts of complaints.

"Well, no…."

But that got Yugi thinking.

He ran up to Yami, trudging in the snow next to him.

"Yami, why didn't you want to go the way Bakura picked?" Yugi asked him.

"It's not safe that way," Yami said.

"Well, yeah, I got that bit—but _why_ isn't it safe? How did you know?"

Yami half-paused, head tipped in the direction that the other trail had been.

"It was too quiet," he said finally.

Yugi blinked and exchanged glances with Willow as Yami continued on. "Wait a minute," Willow said. "It's quiet _here_ too—or it was until we came along."

"There's still _sound_, though," Yami countered. "Rabbits and birds and life and the like. Down that way, it was just…dead. It was dead on that trail," he said, sounding certain of his wording that time.

Yugi exchanged glances with Willow again, shivered—and not because of the cold.

They were quiet for a long while after that.


	94. Ro-Sham-Bo

**Chapter 94, everyone! In which gestures and grammar are discussed, and the writer really wishes they'd use a different sound effect for the Republican presidential debate—every time that little ****_ding_**** sounds, I want to go and check the car to see if the door is ajar. :-\**

**Ro-Sham-Bo, by the by, is what rock-paper-scissors is called in the original _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ manga, so I figured it'd be a nice reference. :)**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yay, success! :D And Yami agrees with that sentiment—and _that_ sentiment. I've tried jerky maybe twice in my life, and that was my general reaction—****_bleh_**** followed by as much water as I could stand. Looked it up real quick: jerky is made by drying, but a lot of salt is used in the preservation process to keep bacteria and the like down, so the end result is chewy and salty to the point that my eyeballs shriveled (which may be hyperbole, but that's what it felt like). Good question! We'll find out eventually, I think….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, "who wants to go down the long creepy tunnel first?" (****_National Treasure_**** reference). That generally seems to be the case—but it's not like he plops down right in front of you with scary stuff…does he? Yes! Thanos really pulled a good one off with this one (working on outlining and hoping to start the pages soon). Which makes me wonder if he's openly trying to take the show away from Glint now….And don't worry—sufficient duct tape and shiny objects are getting Glint to stick around. ;) And world building so he's existing in a three-dimensional space. Success! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yami was quite happy with the whole affair.

Heading _up_ the mountain, towards snow—which was infinitely more fun than _sand_—with so many new friends…it was a good day.

Of course, Bakura was sulking, but that was a minor detail. Yami was back in his element, and as soon as he was unharnessed for the day, he set about to bounding around in the snow, to make up for all the time he had missed. It was an endeavor that was more fun with others, though, so he quickly bowled Yugi over in an attempt to get some assistance in snow-play.

"Ack! Yami!" Yugi protested. "Stop it! This is serious!"

"What's serious?" Yami asked; he had heard that word once or twice before, but had not had cause to pursue the meaning before now.

Yugi gestured around. "Just because the soldiers don't know where we are or where Frostmore is doesn't mean they can't find out—even lighting a fire's risky right now!"

That would explain why Wilson had said something about going into the thicket they were now in. "But the soldiers are nowhere nearby," he explained.

"And how are you so sure?"

Wasn't it obvious? "The birds told me."

Judging by Yugi's expression, no, it was not obvious. Hadn't he been paying attention?

"For the record," Rae called over, pausing in her digging in the sled. "Not everyone knows what you do."

That actually came as a surprise. "They don't?" Yami asked.

"No—different people know different things. Then they exchange what they know with others, and learning happens. Let me guess," she added, pointing at Wilson, who had his mouth half-open. "'Except for stubborn know-it-alls.'"

"If you're referring to whom I think you are, then yes," Wilson said.

"That wouldn't be _me,_ would it?" Bakura asked.

"Why?" Rae asked. "Are your ears burning?"

Yami took a startled double-take at Bakura before looking to Willow—the resident expert on burning things, he had long decided—for clarification.

"It's a thing people say," Willow explained. "But I wouldn't mind setting his ears on fire."

"In the meantime," Yugi said, bending down to scoop some snow up. "Throwable snow—the kind that converts nicely into a projectile weapon."

"Yeah!" Willow said, brightening as she kneeled to help. "Yami—we'll distract him, and while he's busy with us, you pounce on him!"

"Who?" Yami asked.

"Bakura!"

"But I'm pretty sure he asked me _not_ to."

"Allow me to explain double negatives," Willow said blithely. "It's a grammar thing, see, and if people say two negative words—like '_don't_ you freeze me _no_ more'—then the two negatives cancel each other out. So Bakura was _really_ asking you _to_ freeze him again. Get it?"

"No," Yami said, feeling _very_ confused.

"Here," Willow said, indicating that he follow. "We'll get Rae and Wilson to clarify."

The subsequent conversation didn't exactly feel any clearer, but by the end of the explanation (at which point Wilson seemed like he had a headache again), Yami felt like he had some idea of what they meant. He thought. Maybe. But the important takeaway was that it was going to be _fun_, so he decided to go with it.

Which was why Bakura was picking himself up out of the snow five minutes later.

_"What did I tell you!?"_ Bakura stormed, after spitting snow out.

"You told me you wanted me to do that," Yami said happily, secure in the explanation he had received.

"_What?"_ Bakura snapped, struggling to his feet. "_How dense are you to get that from what I said!?"_

Yami looked to Wilson and Rae, who were doing some sort of complex hand movement that ended with Wilson sagging and Rae cheering.

"Allow me to give you a grammar lesson," Wilson sighed, indicating that Bakura listen.

Yami decided that hearing it a third time wasn't going to make it any clearer for him and decided instead to ask Yugi and Willow what the hand signals were.

"Rock-paper-scissors," Willow said.

"I heard it called Ro-Sham-Bo too," Yugi said.

"It's rock-paper-scissors—don't mess it up."

"What is it?" Yami asked. "I know what rocks are and I know what paper is—what are scissors?"

"Things to cut paper with," Willow said.

"Maybe we should call it Ro-Sham-Bo to avoid confusion," Yugi suggested.

"But then you'd confuse _me_—it's rock-paper-scissors," Willow insisted. "It's a hand game—rock is a fist, scissors is two fingers, paper is your full hand. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, paper beats rock." She and Yugi demonstrated as Yami watched.

"But Rae didn't use any of those," Yami noted.

"_She_ cheated," Wilson called over.

"_She_ won," Rae pointed out.

"What did you do?" Yugi asked.

In response, Rae pointed at him, thumb and pointer out.

"Gun beats everything," Rae stated, smirking.

"Most people don't use that one," Willow said.

"It's why I tend to win those exchanges."

"It says a lot about your personality," Wilson said.

Rae showed a different finger to Wilson. "As does that," Wilson added, before rounding on Bakura. _"You_ sit!"

Yami swiveled his ears, but decided that there were more pressing matters than what to call a peculiar hand-game and whether having a trump card was a good thing or a cheat-thing and how that last one related to the game.

"Do we eat soon?" he asked Rae, looking at the cook-pot.

"Eventually," Rae said. "Go find something else to entertain yourself with in the meantime."

That shouldn't be too hard, Yami decided.

Not with snow around.


	95. Up, Up, and No Way

**Chapter 95, everybody! You won't believe a man can fly!**

**…****Behold, the weirdness that comes when I name a chapter after a line Tom Bergeron says in ****_America's Funniest Home Videos…._Oh, and happy Mardi Gras, everyone. :)**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Ah, I'm glad you enjoyed meeting him—he's now back with me frolicking on my front lawn in the flurries. Yes! Double negatives make ****_wonderful_**** loopholes. :D Haha, Rae's trick actually comes from one of the ****_Percy Jackson_**** books (Percy uses it to beat the Hundred-Handed One at rock-paper-scissors). If you managed to beat her at Ro-Sham-Bo, she might actually take it in stride—"I cheated; you cheated better." ;)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, it doesn't happen very often—I think the last time we saw Yami's viewpoint was…*looks up* Chapter 21, my goodness. Well, shove it back! Give him the Screecher mod from ****_Don't Starve_**** (no seriously, don't D: ). I may have to—at the very least, I've finally figured out Thanos' master plan…and why Keno now has ****_Thanos and the Bounty Hunter_**** t-shirts….I am! It's fun, and the characters might be more inclined to stick around if their world is three-dimensional—or maybe I'm just deluding myself….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Dinner was a relatively quiet affair, despite Yami's best efforts.

Yugi could get where he was coming from—from Yami's perspective, being in the mountains with snow and people to play with was a great thing. But for the rest of them—well, Frostmore was safe, but the chances of their little party running into the soldiers had increased exponentially, to use Wilson's big words. Yugi translated it as _we're in deep trouble._

"Aren't you at least a _little_ worried?" Yugi asked Yami in one of his rare calm moments.

"No," Yami had replied simply, and bounded off before clarification could be wrangled.

But at least Yami had been forthcoming on whether or not the thicket had Lief-cousins (it did not), and after dinner Yugi and Willow had drifted off with little issue.

But it had felt like he had just closed his eyes when Yugi was being shaken awake again.

"Huh? Whatizzit?" Yugi managed, struggling to a sitting position.

"It's daybreak," Wilson declared, shaking Willow awake before moving on to the rest of them. "Time to get up."

"Since _when?"_ Willow moaned.

"Since the smoke from the fire could be used to trace our position. _Up,_ Mr. Wheeler."

Joey was elaborate enough in his response that Wilson tugged on the branch above him to deposit a large order of snow.

"There—use that to wash out your mouth," Wilson ordered, walking away as Joey jolted awake.

"If you try to wake me up at this hour, I _will_ shoot you," Rae muttered when he completed the circuit and arrived at her.

"Fine then—I'll just leave you here," Wilson said flatly.

"You can't do that—I'm on the sled."

Wilson rolled her off the sled. "There—problem solved."

"What crawled in _you_ and died?" Rae snapped, suddenly wide awake.

"Funny you should mention death—now come on, we've got a tight schedule."

"Do we eat first?" Yami asked.

"Later," Wilson said, making shooing motions at him. "Now get over there—Yugi, Willow, harness him up. And the rest of you! Let's see some hustle!"

"I think we should pelt Wilson with snowballs next," Willow muttered, staggering slightly as she headed for Yami.

"Seconded," Yugi murmured, helping her put the harness on Yami.

That done, Willow curled herself up in a blanket on the sled. "That ought to throw him off the trail for a while," she muttered.

Not hardly, Yugi reflected as Wilson came over to examine their progress.

Within short order, Willow had snow on her too. "Hey!" she yelped, jolting upright.

"You employ underhanded snow techniques," Wilson responded primly. "I saw fit to return the favor. And now you're awake, so we can get going."

Rae suddenly slammed a huge handful of snow square into Wilson's face, knocking him flat.

"Next time," Rae hissed. "Use coffee."

And with that, she stomped off, grousing.

"Ha ha, serves you right," Willow sang at him.

Wilson sat up, scrubbing the snow from his face. "Be that as it may, I'm grateful it wasn't a fist."

"Or a bullet," Yugi put in.

"Yes. Now come on, everyone! Or do you _like_ having your entrails pulled out?"

"What?" Tristan asked, confused.

"Oh yes, I may have failed to mention that that is a preferred punishment performed by the Royal soldiers."

"What are entrails?" Yami asked.

"All that stuff that's supposed to be on the _inside_ of you," Willow said.

"I'm ready!" Serenity yelped, jumping onto the sled.

The news of entrails becoming out-trails _did_ do a remarkable job of motivating everyone into motion. Within a few minutes, they were setting off, a light flurry swirling down from the sky.

"Very pretty," Teana observed, smiling—Yugi figured she hadn't gotten tired of snow yet.

That was in direct contrast with Bakura. "Yeah, yeah, lovely," he muttered, checking the Ring. "That way," he said, pointing in the direction the Ring indicated.

"Not that way," Yami said promptly.

Bakura scowled at Yami before scowling at the Ring, which pointed a different way. "That way, then."

"Not that way."

A third time. This time, Bakura pointed as he looked inquiringly at Yami.

"Not that way," Yami said, shaking his head.

"Fine! I give up!" Bakura yelled, dropping the Ring—it bounced against his chest as he flung his hands up in the air. "Where are we going, oh fearless leader?"

Yami closed his eyes and tipped his head back and forth, ears swiveling.

"That way," he said finally, opening his eyes and looking up.

They looked up too—he was looking at the sheer mountain face in front of them.

"All right," Rae said finally. "I'll bite—_how_ are we going to go that way?"

Yami's response was simple enough and obvious enough that Yugi _really_ wanted to rattle his antlers.

"We climb it, of course."


	96. Conniving

**Chapter 96, everyone! Which is a tad short, but it's got stuff going on in it, so….Happy early Valentine's Day, by the way (or late, depending on where you are). :)**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yeah, it's not fun—and that…will definitely be not fun. Think of the fellowship on the side of the mountain in ****_The Fellowship of the Ring _movie****….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Because these guys have a track record that sucks. And yeah—it's been a while (as is the reference made in this chapter). Well…you'll think of something. :) Yeah…it's ironic though—you'd think the big mysterious antagonist would be the one I'm having problems with, but nooo, it ****_has_**** to be the protagonist. And yeah, it has to be done sooner rather than later, and at least I'm getting some good restructuring done on the story and backstory and world and such (and figuring out how to make said big mysterious antagonist more mysterious). Glint, when we finally get back to you, you'd better have some doozies for me….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Akenhadin was not happy.

He had used all the small words he had at his disposal, had sent them to the Pale Skin settlements, had sent them after the fleeing contingent, had given them one of the green gems to ensure they stayed in contact—

And all for naught. Every night the soldiers reported through the crystal, it was with negative news.

They simply did not know where Frostmore was, and the sled pulled by the snow-producing monster had vanished into thin air through the creature's magicks. The contingent that was to lead them straight to Frostmore had vanished like a flurry in the night.

It had taken all of his self-control not to smash the glowing green crystal at the news, instead opting to tell them to split up the army to cover more ground.

The soldiers were understandably unhappy about this, and told him in plain terms that was a suicide mission. He had been similarly plain when he told them what he would do if they _didn't_ do as he said.

He wrapped the gem in its dark fabric covering to signal that the conversation was over and spent the next few minutes fuming and raving. Why, why, _why_ was he surrounded so by idiots? From his brothers to their offspring down to the lowliest drudge to that aggravating little slip his fellow Advizier called an apprentice—claiming that the Brother Prince was still in the palace when it was obvious that sorcerous Pale Skin had spirited him off!

Thinking back on when he first laid eyes on said Pale Skin sorcerer, when he was aweing his brothers with his parlor tricks, and then assisting his Pale Skin ilk in taking over the kingdom, and now with _this_—he should have killed him when he had the chance.

He calmed himself, forcing his mind to cease its raving and focus. Think. There were still options available.

He unwrapped the crystal to contact one of those options right now—the one that had provided him with the green crystal and helped to open his eyes to the course he had to take for the good of the kingdom.

Within short order, he had explained the situation. A long silence followed as his ally considered what he had told him.

_"This…frozen monster,"_ his ally said finally. _"I find it most intriguing."_

"I find it most concerning," Akenhadin retorted. "I fear the Pale Skin sorcerer summoned it in an attempt to preserve the Brother Prince."

_"I'm sure. I suppose you want the…creature…out of the way."_

"I want _all_ of them out of the way—specifically the Brother Prince, the sorcerer, and that monster. And I want _proof_ of their death this time."

_"Proof may be hard to produce—but the means to destroy them are not. I have plenty of creatures up my sleeve—and a fascinating new addition. You said the Pale Skins hail from across the Endless Ocean?"_

"It obviously was not endless if it produced _them."_

_"Indeed—but I've done a little digging, sacrificed a few soldiers, and learned a little more of their world. There's quite a bit there to keep me busy for a while, but one creation in particular fascinated me." _The background shifted as the crystal was turned. _"Did you know, before they conducted their mass exodus, the Pale Skins created something to combat the beasts plaguing them."_

Akenhadin recoiled in horror at the vision in the crystal. "What _is_ that?"

_"Fascinating, isn't it? Reanimated corpses, perhaps, with owl faces and a horrible scream, attracted to light, but attack in the dark. The moment you lay eyes on it, it pursues you. They don't feel pain, they don't feel fear, and the only thing that can effectively kill them is miles away in an abandoned land."_

"That is…perfect, actually. How many do you have?"

_"About a dozen, not counting this one. And I can let them all out onto the mountain. The cold won't bother them."_

"They might bother my soldiers."

_"For the greater good though, yes?"_

Akenhadin gave it some thought.

"Very well," he said finally. "Release the…eh…."

_"Screechers, I believe the Pale Skins call them. As you wish then. Although I think they may have competition, as I have other plans in action."_

"It does not matter," Akenhadin said, smiling. "If they do not find the Brother Prince, I am certain they will find Frostmore."


	97. Something Rotten in the Snow

**Chapter 97, everyone! In which the adults quote ****_Jurassic Park_**** movies and Bakura is insulted yet again….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, it does—eek! And yes, you are correct (although I spell it differently—maybe I should switch to that spelling). It would…the jerk. Uh…Screechers are part of a ****_Don't Starve_**** mod that you never want to play—I watched a video and read the synopsis and it was enough for me. And then I find out that they may have made the monster design worse—****_how could they possibly make it WORSE!?_**** *ahem* Moving on…if you're not a fan of jump-scares or slow-burn scares or horror in general, avoid the Screecher mod (actually, avoid it like the plague anyway)—making them villain-tools is part of my coping mechanism with them (that, and I loathe them enough that there's no sympathy or empathy). Yes indeedy—Wilson is the "Pale Skin sorcerer." :) There's a quote by Arthur C. Clarke about how "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"—to Wilson (and to us), he just showed the Royals some basic technology to make their lives easier; to Akenhadin, he showed just a sample of the 'magic' he can craft. To be honest, the Science Machine in _Don't Starve_ seems to have some sort of magical component to it anyway...and Wilson will probably be very miffed if he ever finds out that Akenhadin calls him that….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes—to quote Wilson: "just ****_dandy."_**** And yeah….Probably with a lot of screaming unbecoming a gentleman scientist. Yup—but don't say anything: our protagonists don't know it yet. ;) Eh…if they ****_make_**** it that far….Actually, the benefits of Thanos spilling the beans to ****_me_**** is that I know just how much info to give out to keep him mysterious to others—that's sad, when my characters are smarter than I am….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Climbing up a sheer mountain face was just as arduous as everyone anticipated.

After spending half a day attempting to climb it, the group spent the rest of the day attempting to dissuade Yami from pursuing that course. The sled couldn't go up like that. They couldn't grip the icy rocks like he could. The soldiers would be able to see them from miles away and they'd be exposed to the soldiers' crossbows.

That last one, at least, finally convinced Yami to pursue a softer incline.

But after wandering around in a circle in one of the clearings they encountered, Yami suddenly sat down, ears flat and head tucked between his hunched shoulders.

"What?" Yugi asked, coming up next to him. "What is it?"

"I don't like this," Yami said finally. "This area doesn't _feel_ right—I want to go home."

Yugi glanced at Willow, then at Wilson, who grimaced and glanced eastward—heading home was definitely a palatable option.

But they had to do this. Their problems weren't going to go away otherwise.

Yugi looked back to Yami, trying to think of what to say to make him feel better as Serenity carefully petted him—he was back at full strength now, meaning that prolonged contact would result in bitter cold and probably frostbite.

"What if we promised you biscuits and bacon?" Yugi asked, deciding to go for bribery.

Yami shook his head.

Bakura made an aggravated noise and threw his arms up in the air. "I can't take this," he said. "I'm freezing, and I'm not about to stand here in the snow while he has a panic attack." He counseled the Ring before striking off. _"This _way."

_"Not that way!"_ Yami wailed.

No one moved for a good moment—Yugi didn't think he had ever heard that tone from Yami before.

But what could make the Frost King fearful in his own element?

Teana came around and crouched in front of him. "Maybe you could tell us what's wrong," she counseled gently.

"And maybe you could elaborate more besides saying 'it's not safe' or 'it's dangerous that way,'" Willow suggested.

"And maybe I ought to go get our dimwit dowsing rod in the meantime," Rae said, striking off after Bakura.

Yami shifted slightly, ears swiveling. "There's…it's too quiet."

"You've said that," Willow pointed out.

"I always thought the mountain was a little quiet," Serenity said.

"This is different," Yami protested. "There's usually birds and other animals, but they're all quiet—like they're scared of something. And something smells funny."

"What kind of funny?" Teana asked.

"Dead-funny—like something died a while back."

Yugi glanced up at the sound of Rae and Bakura arguing—wow, Bakura had made some good time down that trail. Rae was yelling and gesturing at him, shotgun pointed at the ground, the both of them far enough away that whatever they were saying wasn't entirely understandable.

"Is something being dead normally a problem?" Teana asked, still in her soothing tone.

"This just doesn't _feel_ right," Yami persisted.

Bakura stopped, staring at something off the trail he and Rae were on. Rae looked, leaned in for a closer view as Bakura came over to do the same—

Yugi blinked as Rae suddenly reeled back in alarm, grabbing a stunned-looking Bakura and running as fast as she could through the snow, Bakura running with her.

"We have to leave!" Rae almost-yelled upon reaching them, fear in her voice. Bakura was pale under his tan.

"Now what?" Wilson asked, sounding and looking aggrieved.

Rae glanced at the rest of them, then crossed over to Wilson and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him down so she could hiss in his ear.

Wilson's expression switched from irritation to alarm in record time. "Everyone on the sled! Now!" he ordered. "Yami—pick the least-dangerous route and take it. We need to get out of here—now. _Right now!"_

Everyone scrambled at the alarm in his voice.

"No, no," Wilson said, directing Rae from the runner to the bed of the sled. "I want you in a position where you can shoot if you have to. You too, Mr. Wheeler."

"You realize there's an issue with actually _looking_ at the—" Rae began.

"Yes, well, hopefully it won't come to that," Wilson interrupted. "I have absolute faith in your ability to shoot first and ask questions later, having experienced it firsthand. Now _mush, Yami!"_

Yami took off, taking a route almost directly opposite the one Bakura and Rae had ventured down.

"What was it?" Teana asked Bakura. Bakura shook his head in response, looking ill.

"I thought thieves were supposed to be these big tough guys," Willow said to Yugi.

Maybe. But it begged asking the big question, the one that hadn't seemed to occur to Willow just yet.

What, exactly, was enough to get the adults—and the Frost King to boot—scared?


	98. Reflection and Reunion

**Chapter 98, everyone! And can I just say, the first half of this was ****_hard_****….Emotions are hard. I hate writing for them. I much prefer writing upbeat and witty.**

***ahem* Moving on, welcome to Chapter 98, where we see some familiar faces and Hannah quotes Grug from ****_The Croods_****—yes, guess who finally watched ****_The Croods_****. :D It only took me since…chapter 58?...**

**Once again, we get a reference to Jack London's works, specifically ****_Call of the Wild_****, and a reference to the Donner party—boiled leather soup was actually one of the last things they ate before…you know.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Of course—huh, I didn't know about the others….And…eheh…acid burn might be putting it mildly—Screechers actually rip their victim's faces off. D: No, things aren't looking good! Aaah! :O**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Well, ****_technically_**** it didn't show up—just evidence of it. True—I figured my reaction would be jelly-muscles and screaming Vivian Lee style (cue ****_Psycho_**** theme...). You would think…and yes—half-congratulations are in order. :) Yes indeedy—Snape probably wouldn't have been near as good a character if J.K. Rowling hadn't known where he was coming from (and then one kinda feels bad for loathing him all this time…).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Aladdin and the King of Thieves © 1996 Tad Stones; Disney (Gazim)**

**The Croods © 2013 Kirk DeMicco; Chris Sanders (the line)**

**"****No News, or What Killed the Dog?" © 1994 Ray Bradbury (the first line references the story)**

The end of the world was coming.

Frostmore was thawing.

The general public was cheered at the news, but to Hannah, this was an insult. They could leave. Now that everyone she cared about was gone.

It had taken a day before she and others realized that no one had seen Yugi, Wilson, Willow, Joey, Serenity, or Tristan—at first, they figured they were holed up in Wilson's workshop.

And then Hannah had gone down to find it empty.

A frantic search had ensued, combing the area for signs that they were maybe busy somewhere else and had made a temporary camp—

The Wheelers' tiny sled—the one that Joey and Serenity loved to zip down hills with—was found at the base of the Pass.

And that answered any question as to what had happened to the missing group.

Hannah had been in a daze for days after that—when she finally surfaced enough to notice her surroundings, it had been to find that she had been put in front of the fire in the communal hall and covered with blankets, Solomon on one side, Ushio on the other.

And then the enormity of the situation hit her, and she broke down crying. Solomon, who had been in the same situation with her when Atem died, comforted her and held her, even though it was obvious physical contact made him uncomfortable. Ushio just seemed uncomfortable being there at all, but he didn't leave as she cried herself to sleep, and for that, she was grateful.

She got up a few days later, went about her business with Ushio trailing behind her, keeping a concerned eye on her—

About noon it hit her.

First her family. Then her husband and her sister-in-law. Then her nephew. And then finally her son and her best friend.

Yes, she supposed Wilson had to have been her best friend—he'd never go any farther than that; it would have never _occurred_ to him to go farther than that. The gentleman scientist had been obliviously ignorant of advances made by the feminine persuasion, politely and bemusedly turning them down and sending them away. She remembered thoroughly enjoying ribbing him for that for the longest time.

"I don't see the appeal," he had told her finally. "I don't like talking down to people, and I don't like having to stop and explain every little detail, and I most certainly do _not_ like being around some…some brainless _twat_ that just bats her eyes and sighs all day. What use is _that?"_

She had laughed at how vehement he had gotten in so short a time—she supposed she and Neferti, secure and happy in their marriages, had spoiled him into thinking that all women were used to talking to men as equals and without angling for a hookup. And, she supposed, that was how Pale Skins had been—but the ones that had survived had had the realization that they were dying out without a new generation forthcoming, notwithstanding the Tan Skin women who liked the idea of an "exotic" beau. Ha! And poor Wilson—women trying to flirt with him and him oblivious, uninterested, and eventually disgusted….She laughed a little at the memory.

And then that time she had been explaining the birds and the bees to Willow and Yugi—and Wilson walking in, hearing it, and gaining _such_ a disgusted face—and scooping Willow up and fleeing the situation, saying very loudly how that sort of thing was disgusting and _we really should have figured out a better way around it by now—_

And Yugi, all innocence, asking what, exactly, was the _it_ Wilson was referring to.

Yugi.

Wilson may have been her friend, but Yugi had been her life—from the moment he was born, this beautiful _thing_ she had made (with a little help)….The last remnant of Atem, who could be goofy and serious and caring and responsible and whom Yugi was beginning to take after….She kind of wished Yugi had taken after her more—possessing of a backbone, not taking any sass from anybody…._Willow_ of all people took after her more, and they didn't have an ounce of blood similar. But Willow and Yugi had hit it off, and it was so very amazing how well they worked together, and how they played together, and how Hannah had _ribbed_ Wilson, joking that they'd be in-laws with the way those two were going—_that_ had sent Wilson into a frenzied panic, and he had managed to keep them apart for a week until they had both cried until they were sick and he had had to concede the point….And every once in a while, Hannah would still poke fun at him by suggesting potential names for the next generation….

And all that was gone.

Wilson, with his cleverness—how he was going to _conquer it all with the power of his MIND!_ Willow, obsessed with fire—but she could start one better than anyone, and was willing to bite back when Yugi wouldn't. Joey, all fierce protectiveness of his sister and whoever he liked at the moment. Serenity, quiet and unnoticed for the most part, but always stayed with someone feeling down and helped them back from their grief. Tristan, all quiet and soft-spoken, but capable of being just as brash as Joey when the occasion called for it. And Yugi, her whole world—quiet and caring and curious, with a subtle kingly bearing that went unnoticed because he preferred to be under the radar….

She started crying again.

A hand went to her shoulder, an arm hugged her to someone—Ushio.

"Sorry," she choked.

"For what?" Ushio asked, one arm tight around her, the other still cradling his shotgun. "Just….Forget it. Anyone says anything, I'll shoot them myself."

She coughed out a laugh, tears still streaming and no longer freezing in the warming air. They had frozen when she cried last, when Yugi had gone missing—that was why she was by the treeline, she realized. She was waiting, hoping beyond hope that Yugi would come wandering back in, followed by the others, all happy and excited and proud because they had survived impossible odds—

People were yelling.

Because people _were_ coming through the trees.

She straightened up, startled, Ushio readied his shotgun—

She put her hand on the barrel and lowered it. "Wait," she ordered.

She _recognized_ those people.

People she had thought she'd never see again.

"_Gazim!"_ she yelled, forgetting herself and running as fast as the sloshy snow would allow, tackling the Thief King in a hug that he heartily returned.

"Hannah!" he cheered, returning the sentiment wholeheartedly. "So glad to see you again, and whole besides." He released her so he could look her over effectively. "No wonder you thought coming up here was such a good idea—this is most certainly _not_ the place for a Tan Skin. How is Solomon, by the way?"

"Um," she noised, pointing towards the communal hall—Solomon must have rousted himself at the alarm, because he was standing in the doorway and staring openmouthed. "He's…I'm…how are you even here?" she asked, turning back to Gazim.

"A very detailed map," Gazim told her, pulling it out. She recognized the styling, and Gazim's next words confirmed it. "Wilson has always been…what's the phrase? Very precise."

She stared at him, openmouthed. "Wilson's…Wilson's _alive?"_

"He was the last time I saw him," Gazim said, as thieves poured into the clearing, greeting everyone—forty, she noted inanely. "And he asked me to give a message to you."

"What? What is it?"

"He said _'not the face.'_ I assume you understand what he meant."

She laughed, a sort of breathy noise that came of someone realizing that the worst did _not_ come to pass. "He's always been very fond of his nose," she said—

Wait….If Wilson was _alive_…and had made it to the thieves….

She was gripping Gazim's arms now. "Wilson—was he with anyone? Was Yugi with him?"

"Well, when he arrived, he told me that he had left the others with a Pale Skin—one of your 'Bradbury-Orwells,'" Gazim said, expression wavering between amused and concerned. "And then three of them—Joey, Tristan, and Yugi—decided to go _against_ his express wishes and follow him. We got Joey and Tristan out of the mess they got themselves in, and the last I saw of Wilson, I was helping him into the Royal's palace to rescue Yugi. There were assassins, but they met _me_. So as far as I know, yes, they are all fine."

Relief gripped her so strongly that she had to hug Gazim as tightly as possible to stay upright. They were alive. They were all alive. _Yugi was alive._

"So," she noised, when she felt composed enough again. "What brings you here?"

"Wilson thought you might need help packing," Gazim said, mirth in his voice.

"And why, pray tell, isn't he helping?"

"He was very vague on the topic, but from what I could gather, he is seeking something lost—his plan before events necessitated rescuing Yugi was to…re-appropriate—the gentleman's word for stealing, I assume—the Millennium Ring."

_"What?"_

Hannah looked at Solomon—she hadn't even been aware of him coming up and Ushio moving away, helping to organize the packing. Solomon looked just as dumbstruck as she felt.

"_Why?" _she asked, because it had to be asked. "Why would—would _Wilson_ want that thing? He doesn't even _believe_ that the Items are magic!" Neither did she, but that wasn't the point—Wilson was the most logical person she knew; the notion that magic existed had sent him into such a scoffing fit that she had worried he would choke.

"He wouldn't tell me," Gazim told her. "He seemed worried that the notion he was entertaining would have been very dangerous if he had been wrong."

That didn't clear things up any. They had lost people, good people, over the years—he couldn't be entertaining the notion to find them! There wasn't anything left to find!

Unless….

The first person they had lost—he had had a _very_ important piece of jewelry around his neck.

"The Millennium Puzzle," she breathed. "They—he's going after the Millennium Puzzle. But _why?"_

"Perhaps he feels it could be used as a bargaining chip," Gazim said, now eyeing her with concern. "When was the last time you ate?"

"I'm fine," she said, waving him off, trying to figure out just _what_ Wilson was up to—this was different from his usual science schemes. This was dangerous, _beyond_ dangerous—and she knew from experience that Wilson had had things blow up in his face before. "I ate last week."

"_What?"_

Okay, that probably sounded odd—but there was only so many times people could stand boiled leather soup. It might have been thawing in the area, but that only made hunting and gathering harder.

Gazim waved at one of the burlier thieves, who lumbered over with a large pack on his back. "You need to eat," Gazim informed her. "I daresay everyone here needs to eat. And then we need to get you all out of here—Akenhadin's soldiers are about, as is…something else."

"Something else?" Hannah asked.

"How close are the soldiers?" Solomon asked.

"The soldiers may not be the problem," Gazim said. "We have…heard strange echoes on the way here. Like something…_inhuman_ screaming in agony."

_That_—didn't sound good. She remembered the stories from her old home; screaming wasn't a good sound.

"We _really_ have to go," she said, rubbing her arms. She suddenly felt cold, and not from the snow. "And…I think I need to write Wilson a note—you think he was coming back here?"

"I think that was his plan," Gazim said, herding her and Solomon towards the communal hall. "But first—let us eat."


	99. On Screechers

**Chapter 99, everybody! In which what we're up against is described….Out of curiosity, can anyone guess where the reference at the end of this chapter comes from? :)**

**Thanks for the review, Guest! (Angiembabe, is that you?). Oh, good—I wasn't sure, but it felt like I was going in the right direction; glad to know I got it. And yes! We couldn't leave it on a downer note! Yes…"You're just like your father!" Heheheh…yeah, that was fun to write—eh, not quite yet, as Wilson is thirty and there's that movie about the forty-year-old virgin, but he's trying. In my head-canon, Wilson is asexual (a bit like me, actually) and therefore isn't really interested in a romantic relationship. He might change his tune a little if he meets someone he can get along with at his level, but it'd still probably stay as a primarily intellectual relationship. Yes! Ta-da! Love the pun too—I did, but it was mostly blink-and-you'll-miss-it stuff, since everyone was busy rescuing Yugi and getting out of Dodge. And then things happened, so….Yes, at least there's that.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes! We needed it—"And now, for something completely different…." True….And true, but seriously, who ****_would_**** be polite in that sort of situation? Answer: Wilson. Wilson is weird that way. :-\ Precisely—like Shrek, only he probably smelled better (I know—Rowling did a good job of giving a lot of the "baddies" more character so their motivations made more sense. And those that didn't get it didn't make it, so….Improve or die, characters!).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

They didn't stop until it was nearly dark, partially because Yami didn't want to stop, partially because Wilson didn't say anything to stop him until they spotted a shallow cave.

They had made some upwards progress—Yami had found a winding trail that zigzagged back and forth through a thin copse of trees, and he spent the whole time swinging his head back and forth, ears swiveling every which way. He was still doing that now, sitting at the opening of the cave and glancing back and forth, ears continuously moving.

This unusual behavior from Yami, coupled with the obvious nervousness from the adults, put Yugi on edge, to the point that he literally couldn't sit still, to Willow's irritation. After the third time of getting elbowed by her, he stood and crossed over to Yami, still doing that scan-thing.

"What is it?" Yugi asked him.

"It's…something not right," Yami said. "I don't know what it is—it just doesn't feel right. It's not from the mountains, that's for sure."

Yugi scowled—that still wasn't very helpful.

"All right then," Willow said, standing up and flicking her lighter open.

"Miss Willow, remember what I said about threatening people with that," Wilson said, not looking up from the spear he had made and was now sharpening. Rae sat next to him, shotgun ready in her lap.

"I will fry _someone_ to a crisp if someone doesn't stop being vague and tell us what's going on—remember what happened the _last_ time you didn't tell anyone anything."

Wilson closed his eyes slowly and let his breath out in a long hiss, the way he normally did when he was aggravated with people in general and them specifically.

Rae elbowed him. "She's got a point," she pointed out. "You might as well."

"Can we please not talk about this?" Bakura asked, sitting with his back to the wall and staring out the cave.

"I think we need to," Teana said, sitting next to him and eyeing him with concern.

"Yes, let's," Willow said.

"Start with what you guys saw that got _him_ all jumpy," Joey said, indicating Bakura, who shook his head again.

"Sissy girl," Rae muttered, but lacking the bite she had before. Then, to the rest of them: "Fine then. We saw a soldier corpse with the face ripped off. Happy?"

Silence. _Dead_ silence. Even the fire seemed to have stopped all noise.

"Do _what?"_ Tristan asked flatly.

"Is that like the innards becoming outards thing?" Joey asked, suddenly lacking brashness. Serenity was rocking next to him, hands over her ears.

"Ah, if only it were so simple as horrible human activity," Wilson sighed. "Although I suppose that's what started it.

"For the record, all this information is secondhand," Wilson continued, looking up at them. "I and Miss Rae—and pretty much all of the surviving Pale Skins—were vaguely too young to remember these as more than horror stories."

Horror stories?

Wait—that meanest thing the adults had ever come up with to scare the kids….What if it wasn't made up?

"Screechers?" Yugi guessed.

Wilson and Rae nodded, Wilson staring pensively into the fire, Rae keeping an eye on the cave entrance.

"Screechers, so I'm told, were an attempt to counteract the…issue plaguing our homeland before the exodus was planned," Wilson said, sparing a minor glance to Bakura and Teana. "To say it backfired would be a _tremendous_ understatement."

"Reanimated corpses with owl faces," Rae supplied, adjusting her sitting position so she faced the cave entrance better. "Owl-zombies that are attracted to light, attack in the dark, scream bloody murder, and—if you're lucky—kill you by ripping your face off."

"If you're lucky?" Willow repeated.

"It isn't _guaranteed_ to be fatal," Wilson said. "And those that lived were in tremendous pain…until they found that whatever was used to make the Screechers was also a poisonous contagion."

Yugi realized he was standing in front of the fire without being aware that he had moved—the action had been instinctive and fear-driven.

"On the positive side," Rae pointed out, finally glancing away from the cave entrance. "Our chaotic friends detested them about as much as they detested snakes and straight lines—huge groups of them were reported to mob areas where Screechers were released, and then the next day only bits and pieces of the Screechers were ever found. Completely torn apart."

"Yes," Wilson noised. "And now the only natural enemy for our owl-faced acquaintances are a remarkably long distance away. Which, by the by, is why we were here in the first place."

Rae looked at Yami—still scanning the area—before turning to Wilson. "I stand by what I said earlier," Rae pointed out. "Our luck sucks."

Wilson sighed in agreement. "I'd say get to bed," he said finally. "But I doubt anyone is up to sleeping right now."

Everyone shook their head. No, they were not.

Teana, however, seemed like something had occurred to her. "Wait—if they were over _there_…and it took you guys _years_ to get over _here_ in ships…then how did _they_ get over _here?"_

The expressions on Wilson and Rae's faces said that this had occurred to them, and the answers were not palatable.

"I _know_ no one was daft enough to bring one over on a ship," Rae said to Wilson. "If anyone was depraved enough to do so, they _and_ the Screecher have to be long dead and shark food by now. And I _know_ those louses can't have swum that far."

"And if it was a delayed pollutant, it would have shown up on that battery of tests they ran on everyone leaving," Wilson said. "They were packing thousands of people in like sardines—they weren't even risking _foot fungus_ getting on board."

"So we don't know how they're here."

Wilson sighed, as though admitting this pained him. "No," he said. "We don't know how they're here."

Long, long silence. No one liked the idea of mystery monsters just _showing up_. Yugi felt sick.

Yami broke the silence abruptly.

"We need a story," he declared.

Everyone turned to look at him. He swiveled an ear back at them before pricking it back out to face the murky darkness.

"He's right," Serenity said. "We need a story. A _good_ story. One that gets our minds off of things."

They looked at Wilson and Rae. Wilson looked at Rae.

Rae looked at Wilson. "And _why_ are _you_ looking at _me?"_

"_You_ are the trained professional in this case," Wilson informed her. "_My_ specialty lies in inventions of science, not inventions of words."

Rae blew an irritated raspberry before turning to look back out of the cave. For the longest time, Yugi thought she was just going to ignore them.

"All right," she said finally. "I think I've got a good one."

Everyone pressed tightly together as Rae composed herself, took a deep breath, and began, still staring out into the dark.

"A long time ago, longer now than it seems…."


	100. A Flash of Red

**Chapter 100, everybody! Woohoo! If this isn't a landmark chapter, I don't know what is—or maybe it just signals that I need to stop making really short chapters (although let's be honest, when a lot of back and forth happens, that lengthens the page count while keeping the word count short :-\\).**

**And as no one guessed it: the last line from last chapter comes from the opening narrative of ****_The Nightmare Before Christmas_****. :)**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Ah, I thought so—yes, it's like that, and ooh, my sympathies. Aha, no problem—I had to have it confirmed for me a while back; for the longest time, I thought he was closer to twenty-five than thirty. Guessing older makes sense, though, considering he kind of "talks older" and had to grow up fast. They did! And no, it just compounded the problem (there's nothing that can happen that can't be made worse—just consult Murphy's law). Yes, getting cornered would suck majorly—although I doubt that Wilson would allow Willow to get close enough (and agreed, that would somehow make things worse :O ).**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! I don't know—they were desperate. And come to think of it, we never got a good reason as to why Screechers exist in the source material—at least with the main ****_Don't Starve_**** stuff, we can chalk things up to Maxwell making it to torture the player; the Screechers just show up at a campground and start attacking people. Yes, true….Although to be honest, if he starts politely offering a Screecher a cup of tea, that means he's probably cracked and his brain is running out of his ears. True, very true—hey, about my age when I started on those books (I had gotten the first two for my birthday, kind of dismissed them because they didn't have many illustrations and I wasn't sure if I wanted to invest in them, started flipping through the second book, and by the time I got to the Whomping Willow scene I said to myself "I need to start these from the beginning!" Big moment of ****_what have I been _****_missing_****_!?_**** followed by ****_I need the rest of these. Now)._**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The night passed without incident, and the next day had them progressing up the slope towards the top of a ridge, everyone a bundle of nerves and anxiety, imitating Yami in scanning back and forth for danger. The story may have helped, but Yugi most certainly had _not_ forgotten what Wilson and Rae had said about the Screechers, and he did _not_ want to give one the chance to sneak up on them.

Although he may have just found a flaw in his logic.

"Wait," he noised, looking to Willow, then to Wilson and Rae. "Do Screechers come out during the day?"

Rae put a finger up in the air, as though to answer, then gained a look of confusion as well.

She turned to Wilson. "Do Screechers come out during the day?"

"Why are you asking me?" Wilson sighed.

"Because _you're_ the nerd."

"Oh really? Then what, pray tell, are _you?"_

"I think them being about in the day might be worse," Willow opined. "Monsters are supposed to be nocturnal."

"Is that a rule?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah—things aren't as scary when you can see them coming."

Yugi begged to disagree, but a sudden sound in the snowy silence prompted them all to jump.

Except for Yami—Yami had suddenly dropped some, looking ready to pounce, but with ears up and an expression that _wasn't_ alarmed.

When he smiled at the sound occurring a second time, Yugi pieced two and two together—Yami knew that sound.

Come to think of it, so did he.

His suspicion was confirmed when he spotted the little flit of red bobbing up and down through the trees, watched it pass them by, circle about, and come in for a landing on one of Yami's antlers.

"Hello, cardinal-friend," Yami said, trying to turn his head and eyes to see the little red bird properly without dislodging it—hard, considering it was on antlers attached to Yami's head.

The cardinal made a series of chittering noises, looking down at Yami's face, apparently unafraid of those wolf-bear teeth.

"We know," Yami said. "It's been a problem."

"Is he talking to a bird?" Bakura asked slowly.

Serenity flapped her hand at him, sparing him a glance before returning her attention to Yami. "He's the Frost King," she said quietly. "He can do that."

Yami and the cardinal, meanwhile, seemed to have concluded their conversation. The cardinal flew off at a leisurely pace, Yami following.

"Where are you going?" Joey asked—Yami was heading in a different direction than they had been.

"Cardinal-friend says _this_ way is safe," Yami said, barely glancing back.

Joey looked at Tristan, then at the rest of them—scowled a bit when he realized that by his hesitation, he was agreeing with Bakura.

Yugi looked to Wilson and Rae. Wilson and Rae exchanged glances; Rae shrugged and set off after Yami, Wilson following after an aggrieved glance skyward.

"Am I to understand," Bakura said, as they passed him. "That our new navigator is a _bird?"_

"And?" Rae asked, not looking back.

"Why am I even here?" Bakura muttered.

Teana patted him on the shoulder. "Because deep down, you're a very nice person at heart."

Yugi elbowed Willow, who had had to stifle a laugh, and ran after Yami. He was feeling better now, Yugi figured as he jumped on the sled and righted himself to help Willow on. He could handle the passengers now.

One of Yami's ears flicked back and he slowed, allowing Joey to help Serenity on before jumping on behind her, Tristan behind him. Teana and Rae next, then Wilson on the runners, and then finally Bakura, still leery but not wanting to be left behind.

Once everyone was on, Yami glanced back to make sure, then galloped after the cardinal, telling "cardinal-friend" that they could go faster now.

Yugi glanced around, watching as the trees around them blurred. He glanced back, satisfied himself that everyone was on the sled and all right—Rae still had her gun at the ready, but that was nothing new.

He turned back to face the front and watch the cardinal dip up and down as it flew on, Yami following it.

"We're following a bird," he muttered back to Willow, deciding that Bakura had a bit of a point.

"I like it," Willow said. "It reminds me of fire."

Yugi made a bit of a face and watched Yami, who seemed much more at ease than he had been. Almost back to his old self.

"Yami?" Yugi decided to ask. "You're sure this is a good idea."

Yami tossed his head back in a quick nod. "Sure I'm sure! I trust cardinal-friend."

"Why?"

He wasn't sure if he meant for it to slip out, but it did. Yami paused momentarily to look back at him.

"Because," Yami said, tipping his head to indicate the cardinal, which circled back when it realized they weren't following. "Cardinal-friend helped me find you."

And with that, they were off again, allowing Yugi to digest that information.

"I like it too," Yugi decided finally, informing Willow of that in an undertone.

Willow hugged him, and they spent the rest of the day following the cardinal in silence that got progressively easier.


	101. Hot Chocolate

**Chapter 101, everybody! Wow! In which the scene I wanted to end this one on has to be relegated to the next chapter because the characters went somewhere completely different on me—the heck? And emotions—****_aaah!_**

**We also reference Tolkien here****—hey, we sent a group tromping up and down a mountain range; why not? :)**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, thank goodness! That bird's got a great track record! Me too….It'll happen eventually—plotting dictates that they must show up now that they've been made a problem****….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, definitely! Bounce around in happiness! :D Yeah…and the mystery adds to the scariness, to be honest. We can only hope….Yes…ironically, I was dismissive of ****_Yu-Gi-Oh!_**** too when it first came out (I got over it, obviously). And ****_Don't Starve_****, strangely enough (the description I read reminded me of an old episode of ****_Arthur_****). Huzzah for not having anything better to do, though—otherwise you and I both would have missed out on a literary phenomenon. No I didn't—I must seek those out now…first, to find a bookstore that's large enough to actually ****_stock_**** them….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**"****Welcome to my World" © 1964 Jim Reeves (Wilson sings the one bar that my Mom always sings, and is therefore the only line of the song I know)**

The cardinal eventually led them to the top of the ridge.

The sight when they crested it was something to behold.

The ridge itself seemed to be a connecting bridge between one mountain and another, as though when they were formed they hadn't been fully separated. More mountains made themselves known in the gathering snow fog, and Yugi caught glimpses of towering pine trees as the fog swirled.

"Scary," Serenity opined.

Yugi was inclined to agree. He didn't want to be anyplace with low visibility right now. He wanted to be able to see for miles, so if something mean, screaming, and face-ripping came at him, he'd see it coming.

Yami, meanwhile, seemed to have lost his earlier unease, instead glancing about happily as he trotted along. The cardinal dipped along in front of him, heading along the ridge and aiming for the far mountain.

"Oh, look at that!" Serenity said, looking at a far mountain. "That one's pretty tall, isn't it? And so is that far one."

"I remember that mountain," Yami said, looking at the nearer far mountain—Yugi was certain there was a better way to word that. The mountain _did_ seem memorable, though.

"You've been there before?" Yugi decided to ask—Yami had probably ranged all over the mountain range, Yugi reasoned.

"I woke up on that mountain."

Full stop—Yugi exchanged glances with Willow, had a frantic wordless conversation. If _that_ was where Yami woke up, and they were right in their suppositions about Yami….

Willow turned around to look at Bakura. "Bakura, check to see where we should go," she ordered.

"I thought we were listening to the bird now," Bakura said in a decidedly sulking tone.

"Humor me."

Bakura did. "That way," he said, pointing. "That far mountain."

The really far mountain—not the one Yami had picked out. "Are you sure?" Willow asked.

Bakura threw his hands up in the air. "Why are you even bothering with asking me if you think I'm wrong!?"

"'Welcome to my world,'" Wilson said in a singsong voice.

"Bakura, we're at the top of a steep incline," Rae said. "Don't make me fling you down it."

Willow, meanwhile, seemed to have made an executive decision. "Yami, we should go visit that mountain," she said.

Yami glanced back at her. "Why?" he asked.

"Because it'd be enlightening."

"What's that?"

"It means it'd be interesting."

Yami tipped his head, considering. "But there isn't anything up there. And besides, something over there feels funny."

"That's where Bakura wants to go."

It wasn't a full lie, but the way Yami's ears flicked said he didn't believe it either way. "We're not going that way," Yami said, this time with conviction.

"Why not? And elaborate this time."

Yami's ears flicked, but to Yugi's surprise, he didn't ask what _elaboration_ was.

"It's…there's…there's something _weird_-feeling over there," Yami said. "I don't like it."

Yugi and Willow exchanged glances—the Millennium Puzzle, perhaps? Yami didn't like the Millennium Ring—maybe he felt the same way about all the Items.

"Is it weird as in dangerous?" Yugi asked.

Ears swiveling now—Yugi knew him well enough now to know that meant he was confused. "No…it's just…it makes my skin prickle. Bad vibes, that's what it is," Yami said suddenly, sounding decidedly happy about his deduction. "There's bad vibes over there—and you're supposed to avoid bad vibes."

"Well what do you know," Rae mused. "He listens to me."

"That concerns me slightly," Wilson said.

"Yeah, but the treasures in the stories are always guarded by dangerous stuff," Willow reasoned. "Ergo, we need to go over that way."

_"Ergo?"_ Yami echoed, turning his head to give them a confused look.

"Not tonight," Wilson said, overriding Willow's executive decision with his own. "We need to make camp soon—and I suppose wherever we're heading is better than any other options at the moment."

"Cardinal-friend's leading us somewhere safe," Yami insisted, turning back to keep an eye on where they were headed—a cluster of trees clinging doggedly to the side of the mountain in front of them.

They settled back down, but Yugi had the feeling he'd be hearing more about this soon enough.

* * *

Cardinal-friend roosted in one of the trees upon arrival—big pine trees that blocked most of the wind.

"More Lief-cousins?" Yugi guessed.

Yami looked them up and down before sitting in front of one. "Hi, you don't know me, but I'm friends with Lief over…."

"That answers that question," Willow said, before tugging Yugi over out of earshot.

"Let me guess," Yugi said. "We need to convince the others to go over that way."

"Why not?" Willow asked. "Bakura's ring-thing points that way. Ish. And Yami remembers that mountain—he says that's where he woke up. Even if it had no bearing on anything, and even if there weren't monsters roaming the mountains, I'd want to check it out. And it's not like it's that big a detour."

"Yeah, but I'm not the one you have to convince of it."

"I know—I'm practicing on you."

Yugi made a face at that. To be honest, he wanted to check that mountain out too. But he also wanted to get this trip over with as soon as possible and get back to Frostmore—he wanted his Mom back. He was thoroughly sick and tired of this adventure—he wanted home.

"Now I know how those hobbits felt in those stories Pegasus likes," Yugi said.

"We _did_ find a Ring," Willow agreed. "We just haven't thrown it into any fires yet."

"The week is young."

"True. So what do you think?"

Yugi sighed. "I know we'll probably never pass this way again…and I want to check it out, I really do…but I want to go home too. I want to be in the communal hall with everyone around us and thick walls and a roaring fire and being safe and I want to go _home_. I want Mom." He looked away. "You wouldn't get it," he muttered, before he could think it through.

He could almost _feel_ her combust, by the way she was glaring. "Excuse me?"

"You've got Wilson here with you—you've got your family with you. Mom and Grandpa are back at Frostmore—and they're probably worried sick. Mom's going to _kill_ me."

Willow was glaring at him. "So because I'm some poor orphan, I don't have any worries, is that it?"

"I didn't say that."

"But that's what you meant."

Yugi had the feeling he had just dug himself a mighty big hole.

Willow gestured around, voice rising in agitation. "You're right—everyone I care about is right here. You know what that means? That instead of them being in front of a warm fire safe and sound and worried right out of their minds, they're up here and doing stupid things and any moment some monster is going to come and kill them and then there'll be _no one! And then no one will care!"_

Dead silence—Yugi was painfully aware of everyone looking at them; even Yami had ceased his tree-conversing…and the tree and the cardinal were looking at them too.

And Willow had her face in her hands now. Uh-oh—that made everything worse.

"Willow," Yugi quietly begged, putting a hand on her arm. "I didn't mean it like that—the whole thing is just...stressful…."

"I thought you were dead," Willow said. "When you were gone during that blizzard. And then losing you and Wilson during that mess in the Sunlit Kingdom….And there I'd be, all alone." She dropped her hands, staring at the ground. "It's selfish…but…I don't want to lose you guys. And I don't want to play things the safe boring route, either. I want to see the adventure to the end. But I can't have both."

Yugi had absolutely no idea what to do, so he hugged her. In doing so, he tried to telegraph everything he was thinking—that he was homesick, but he didn't want to lose out on the adventure either, no matter how sick of it he was; that he didn't want to lose their friendship because it was important to him; that he was tired and scared and cold and this whole thing was a mess but he didn't want to go through it without a friend….And then he was aware of Willow returning the hug, and telegraphing those same things back to him.

"I miss home too," she whispered finally.

Yugi felt the edges of his mouth quirk up slightly at an errant thought. "I miss hot chocolate."

"Me too. With marshmallows."

"Ahem."

They broke from the hug and looked to see that Wilson was standing there, looking uncomfortable but handing Willow a handkerchief anyway. Yami was behind him, eyeing them with concern.

"Well," Wilson said, tugging them both into a hug while Yami tried to check them over to see what was hurting. "I can solve at least one of those problems—Miss Rae has made some hot chocolate for us, if you want a mug."

Wilson was skinny and bony and uncomfortable with emotion and didn't feel like Mom, but hugging him still made Yugi feel better—it was the hug of someone who cared, Yugi felt.

"That would help," Yugi said finally.

"Yeah," Willow said, sniffling slightly. "Hot chocolate makes everything better."


	102. Howling in the Night

**Chapter 102, everybody! In which the characters converse long-distance and the writer needs to work on the buffer so the chapters aren't fresh-off-the-press done-that-day chapters. I know what I want to write, I know where I want the story to go, but every time I sit down to write, some other story grabs my face and goes ****_"Write me!"_**** I've got nearly a hundred pages done on a different story that I'm not even sure about publishing on FanFiction, simply because it's been loudly demanding my time. Like my parrots, actually….**

**"That depends on which side of the fence you're on" is one of my Dad's sayings, by the by. And on an interesting side note, this chapter makes 300 pages in Microsoft Word. Woo! :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! I think so—when I first started writing, I figured the ending to be around chapter 120, but that's changed since then. Looking at my story notes, however, I can tell you that we're about three or four-fifths of the way done (maybe three and a half?)—there's still a few big things that need to happen before we hit the climax. Why does it make Yami uneasy? Good question….And thank you, glad you like it! They threw that scene at me, and I wasn't sure about it, so it's good to know it was received well. And that Yugi rescued the situation nicely. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes! And go have some hot chocolate—uh, in a few months (it's still warm for you, right?). Land O' Lakes is the best brand of hot chocolate we've had in a long while—it's like rich-warm-smooth-****_mmmmm_**** (writing wolf-speak seems to be rubbing off on me). And most definitely. Bonus points for living someplace that backs up into deep woods and then having to go put chickens up. *~* Ah, that's the best time to get into new things….Interestingly enough, the only show my Mom ever questioned me watching was ****_Mew Mew Power_****: "Isn't that a little girly for your tastes?" Yes, a surprising amount of depth! Ah, so that's an international problem…our local movie place closed ages ago, and then two of the major book retail chains went out of business too—so now the only resources for book purchasing we have is Amazon and a sort of secondhand book place (and yeah, those soda-machine movie-rental things don't have a lot of variety). A department store? Like the one that has clothes in one section and jewelry in another? I wouldn't expect books in those, unless it's like Wal-mart or K-mart (and apparently, the situation is very similar—a moment of silence for the dead bookstores…).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Age of Fire series © 2005 E.E. Knight (the wolves and how they communicate are based on the ones in that series)**

**It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! ****© 1966 Charles M. Schulz (Rae's comment about Bakura is a reference to a comment on Lucy in that show)**

Hot chocolate did make things better. At the very least, it went a long way to loosening up that knot in Yugi's chest that he hadn't even realized had been there.

He made himself take a deep breath and exhale, blowing a stream of smoke into the cold air from the temperature difference. Insulting his best friend—yep, he hadn't been thinking even _remotely_ straight.

"Do you feel better?" he asked Willow in an undertone.

"Mmm," she noised, drinking her hot chocolate.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"As you've told me. Multiple times."

True. And yet he still felt lousy about it.

She leaned on him.

"I'm sorry too," she said. "This is the sort of trip that wears on you—I blame the lousy itinerary."

Yugi gave that some thought. "So this is Wilson's fault?"

"I take _no_ blame for this misadventure," Wilson said, walking behind them and not missing a beat. "Maybe we'll be lucky and you two learn something from all this—but I doubt it."

Ouch. "Any ideas as to what we learned?" Yugi asked Willow.

Willow nodded sagely. "If we've learned anything from this, it's that road trips _suck_."

"This is true."

"They missed the point again, Wilson," Rae said, sounding decidedly amused at the whole thing.

Wilson was of the opposite thought. "Why do I even bother," he muttered, not ceasing in his collecting of deadfall.

"Because you care, Wilson," Willow told him.

_That_ earned a dismissive noise, but Yugi felt much better about the whole situation.

And then the howling started.

Everyone froze; Wilson looked up. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

Yami had perked up too, but he seemed more happy about the noise than anything as he scampered upright and ran to a boulder by the edge of the incline. He stood there, front limbs on the boulder to elevate his head further, ears swiveling as the howls rose and fell and echoed in the night.

"Great," Bakura spat. "Like we don't have enough problems—now we have to worry about _wolves_."

"Yami can handle them," Serenity said staunchly. "Can't he?" she asked, looking at Yugi. Oh right—Yugi was expected to be the expert at all things Yami.

Yugi nudged Willow before looking at her, so he could properly translate the _I have no idea_ look to her. Willow's response was succinct: _you've got to be kidding me._

"Well," Yugi noised.

And then Yami howled.

Everyone stared as he continued, howl arcing up in pitch and then back down. Willow nudged Yugi, gave him a look: _what is he doing?_

"Well," Yugi noised again. "I guess he _looks_ kind of like a wolf…." And memory just served him: Yami had mentioned hanging out with wolves—they must be on friendly terms, at least.

Yugi got up, walked over to Yami, waited politely as Yami finished and listened to the responses to his howls. Willow came over too, listening to the echoing cadences.

"So what'd they say?" Willow asked.

"They say hi," Yami supplied, still listening. "And they want to know what I'm doing way over here." Before they could comment, Yami howled again.

"So what did _you_ say?" Willow asked when he finished.

"I told them we were exploring—" Yami paused, ears pricked to a responding howl. "And they want to know who _we_ is."

Yugi gave that a beat of thought before setting his now-lukewarm chocolate down. "How do you say _hello_ in wolf-howl?" he asked.

Yami tipped his head before nodding. "Like this," he said, before giving a long howl.

Willow had picked up on Yugi's intent and put her chocolate down, cupping her hands around her mouth to help her howl project. Yugi tried it too.

"It's gonna be your fault if we get eaten," Joey said.

"Aw, come on, Joey," Willow said, looking back at him. "You should try this—we've always said you were a dog."

"Hey!"

"Bakura should try it," Rae said, looking like she was trying not to laugh. "He's got the perfect mouth for it!"

_"Hey!"_ Bakura yelped.

Yami, meanwhile, was shaking his head. "That was more like…uh…_hi happy how are you_," he said to Willow and Yugi. _"Hello_ is more like this." And he howled again.

"You're getting feedback," Willow said, listening as more howls echoed to them.

"Yeah," Yami said, ears pricked. "They want to know if I have wolf cubs with me."

"Sort of," Yugi said, prompting Yami to howl a response, and then another, as though one howl wasn't enough to telegraph everything. "What did you say?"

Yami swiveled his ears, as though trying to figure out how to translate the howls into English. "I said…_good two-legs travelling with good hunt having_."

"So wolves have poor grammar," Wilson observed, scribbling in his notes.

"You find out wolves talk and that's what you focus on," Rae observed.

"My sanity demands that I focus on that."

"Maybe you should tell them about the Screechers," Yugi posed, as Yami listened to more howls.

"Okay," Yami said, thinking for a few moments before howling.

"What were they saying before?" Willow asked when he finished.

"They were wishing us good-hunting," Yami said, happy. "That's like…like good-luck-wish for wolves."

Yugi nodded at that, feeling better at the idea, oddly enough. "How do you say _thank you, same to you_ in wolf?"

"That would be _thank-you good-hunt-to-you_," Yami said, ears pricking at the fresh bout of howls. "They say they've been smelling odd things in the woods and tracking them down, but the smells have been leading to two-legs camps, and they don't like to go in those."

"So the Screechers are eating the soldiers," Tristan said. "Is that a win or a lose?"

"It depends entirely upon which side of the fence you're on," Rae told him.

Yami howled again, before turning to Willow and Yugi. "You say this," he told them, before howling again. They imitated the best they could, Yami howled again, and they imitated again.

"This is going to be the death of me," Bakura moaned.

"I think it's cute," Teana countered.

Yami howled one last time, looked at Yugi and Willow expectantly; they howled too. Another round of howls echoed back to them, but Yami didn't answer, instead sitting down and listening.

"So what were we saying?" Yugi asked.

"You said _thank-you good-hunt-to-you be-careful-of-two-leg-owl-monsters keep-everyone-safe I-will-too-for-I-am-a-good-wolf,"_ Yami said, then took a deep breath—Yugi could understand why. "The last bit is how wolves say _goodbye see you later_."

_"Ohhh,"_ Yugi and Willow noised; Yugi glanced over to see Wilson scribbling furiously in his notes.

Yami dipped his head a bit in a nod before closing his eyes and smiling. "You should get some sleep. That'll make everything better."

Yugi had to concede that point. He picked up his and Willow's now-cold chocolate, handed Willow her cup, and walked with her back to the fire.

"It's nice to know that there's a bunch of wolves out there that's got our backs," Willow observed.

"Yeah," Joey noised, bundled down next to his sister and looking concerned. "Hey, what's _I don't taste good don't eat me_ in wolf?"

Yami considered that before making that _going to vomit_ face that he had made in the springhouse, accompanying it with a hack. It was enough to make those near him scramble away.

"Like that," Yami said, prompting Joey to scowl at him.

"Hey," Rae pointed out, tossing another few sticks on the fire. "You _did_ ask."


	103. Correspondence

**Chapter 103, everyone! In which Wilson and Rae become pen-pals and Wilson sort-of references the Disney movie _Hercules_….In other news, I saw ****_Zootopia_****: great visuals, fun caper story, surprisingly adult, and enjoys beating a dead horse by emphasizing everyone being nice to each other. Uh…watch at your own risk, I think.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, he has—important things to know in life (and after watching ****_Zootopia_****, I can't help but think of the line "Yami! ****_No!_**** You'll start a howl!"). Yes, that'll be important to know—although if you ask Rae, that might involve a ****_lot_**** of bullets, and Wilson probably won't let Yugi or Willow handle a gun (safety issues, you know).**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, it has—emotional turmoil aside, of course. Don't worry, that will soon be remedied. I know, right? And we just had our warmest winter on record—cheers for global warming! Except it makes progress on the story slow to a crawl (and melts ice caps)….Mmm, tasty-sounding….Oh yes, definitely—and then things moving when they shouldn't: I had a plastic letter fall off my wall a few nights back—I think I was clinically dead for three minutes. D: Yes: no Blockbusters, no Movie Gallery, no Video Scenes, no Waldenbooks, and no Atlantic Bookstores anymore—and, oddly enough, no more K-Mart in our area (but kudos for rescuing those Yu-Gi-Oh! DVDs—I think I bought enough books when Waldenbooks and Atlantic Bookstores shut down to start my own library). I think we call them superstores over here and reserve department stores for Boscov's and J.C. Penneys—although come to think of it, there's not much difference to them (except the latter lacks a pharmacy and a book section).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Ultimate Spider-Man (comic) ****© 2000 Marvel Comics (the idea for this chapter comes from Peter and MJ's way of "talking" in class)**

Wilson sat by the fire on a woven mat, leaning against a log and scribbling down the day's events in his notes as the others slept. Yami could talk with wolves—fascinating. And cardinals too, apparently. What was this, communing with nature?

And Yugi and Willow—he _really_ should have been paying attention to the younger members of their group. This wasn't even _remotely_ stress-free for the adults—to the younger group, this must be like a nightmare: _there's things the adults can't handle; now what?_

He stopped, propping his face up with a fist and sighing heavily as he glared at his notes. Things had gotten over his head quite quickly, and he still had absolutely no idea how to get out from under it. Having Screechers thrown in on top of everything absolutely did _not_ help. Neither did being reliant on the local flora and fauna—he wanted a workable plan that he could effectively postulate a safe ending with. This wasn't helping.

Sharp poke to the side—he looked to see Rae looking at him, sitting in imitation next to him.

"Are you going to use all that, or what?" she asked.

Wilson blinked. "Huh?"

In response, she mimed writing. Oh. _Oh_, right—he supposed she was in withdrawal. Literally, he supposed.

"Um, ah, give me a minute," he said, looking at the fan of paper and pencil that he most determinedly did _not_ want to part with, before diving into his backpack. There had to be _some_ paper he hadn't written on yet….He'd have to make some more soon—it wasn't like he had had any time to do so lately—

"If you don't have any, that's fine," Rae said.

"No, no, give me a minute." Ah, there! Hand over the handful of clean pages and a spare pencil—basically a glorified charcoal stick with some cloth around it to keep from dirtying fingers—and a piece of flat board for something to rest it on. She accepted it with a muted _thank you_ and started scribbling, hunched over the paper. Huh. Left-handed.

He picked up his papers and pencil, tapped it against the paper a few times, and looked back at her.

"That can't be healthy," he said finally. She was practically curled up on her paper.

"You think so?" she asked.

"It just doesn't _look_ comfortable."

"You tell me—you sit like this when you write."

"I do not."

"You do too."

"Hey, some of us are trying to sleep," Bakura muttered, not opening his eyes.

Wilson conquered the urge to draw on Bakura's face while he was asleep—it might have been entertaining, but it wouldn't help the situation any. And besides, that would be a waste of perfectly good charcoal. Instead, he settled for giving an aggrieved look to Rae, who responded in kind before scratching something out on her paper and showing it to Wilson.

He blinked, thrown for a moment at the unfamiliar cursive, but deciphered it after a few seconds: _Can you believe that guy?_

Wilson gave it some thought before turning the page he was working on over—and then fishing out a fresh page. Oi, he _really_ needed to make more paper. He scribbled his response and showed it to her: _Yes, he's been an aggravation longer than I care him to be._

She stared at the line for a few moments before returning to her own paper. He went back to his notes—

Nudge. He looked over to see a fresh line: _How long?_

Quickly jot a response: _I think he was five._

Her expression said differently. _Well, he acted like he was five_, he amended quickly. Give that some thought…let's see…Willow was…two? Three? Two and a half, maybe, when he went to the palace. She was about the same age as Yugi, and the Crown Prince was ten years older than Yugi, and about the same age as Bakura, so….

_Twelve,_ he wrote finally, tapping it and pointing subtly at Bakura.

Rae tapped her pencil against her paper pensively, considering. Wilson took the opportunity to glance at her drawings. He couldn't help but blink in surprise at how nicely they were rendered—she could match him, definitely, but her sketches had more artistic flair than his clinical and scientific sketches. The one of Yami definitely captured his exuberant personality.

_Those are very good_, he wrote, nudged her, pointed first at his comment, then at her sketches. She shrugged in response. Hm….

He reached into his backpack, fingered through his completed notes…ah, here we go….

He pulled out his sizeable fan of Frost King notes and showed them to her. She raised her eyebrows appreciatively—good to know someone appreciated science around here.

She examined the notes, allowing Wilson to get back to his current ones before finally nudging him again. She pointed at her fresh line: _wolf deer bear human bat_—surrounded by question marks.

He shrugged in response, wrote _Could never figure it out. Have sketched all skeletal possibilities—seems mix of all._ And then some—including one possibility he didn't like to voice. _Resembles the beasts from back home—impossible. Too cold._

Rae drummed her fingers against her knee in response. Pensive, was the word he'd use.

She pulled a fresh page out, sketched Yami laying there, tapped her pencil against the paper before drawing a bunch of lines from him and scribbling down what she thought correlated with what portions. When she finished, she handed it over to Wilson, who examined it before jotting down his own thoughts on the matter, editing parts of the sketch occasionally. His cursive had more flow, he noted, but was still cramped in style like hers was—he supposed they both had experience with trying to make a single piece of paper go a very long way.

The paper went back and forth like that for a while, until they had exhausted both the topic and the paper; the end result was nearly black with writing. He put the paper on top of the rest of his notes, letting her get back to her drawing as he tried to get back to his notes—no dice; he wanted to 'talk' now. Which, he supposed, would have been better if he had a topic to broach. Well, go with the simple one.

He wrote down his question on his 'conversation paper,' as he was now mentally calling it, nudged her and pointed: _So how are you liking the trip so far?_

Her expression really and truly said it all, but she wrote a response anyway: _It SUCKS._ Last word underlined multiple times. Understandable.

_Normally the area is more enjoyable,_ he wrote. _Not as many things wanting to kill you._

"Uh-_huh_," Rae noised, scribbling out a response—her voice after silence for so long startled him; he glanced around—still dark, maybe those odd hours before dawn. He threw another log on the fire before looking at her response: _I'd rather be at the beach._

He struggled to keep a straight face as he wrote his response: _We were at the beach—things wanted to kill us there, too._

_I think you people must attract this sort of thing,_ Rae wrote.

_Regrettably, I can't deny that,_ Wilson wrote in response, before scratching his face and writing out his next line. _What do you think of our Tan Skin compatriots?_ This accompanied by pointing at Bakura and Teana.

Rae gave that some thought before giving her response: _Bakura =_, and then a drawing of a donkey. Wilson had to choke back a laugh at that, prompting Rae to raise her eyebrows and write something else.

_You look cute when you smile,_ she showed him.

Wilson felt a look of absolute consternation cross his face, prompting Rae to snicker and write a fresh line: _And you're absolutely hilarious when you make that face._

Wilson waved her off, a little irritated now. He was allowed a few minutes of peace before she poked him in the side again and pointed at a fresh line: _Progress?_

_None to report,_ he wrote. _No ideas on how to proceed, except to continue as we have been._

_That's a sucky way of doing things,_ she wrote.

_Tell me something I don't know._

Rae tapped her pencil against the paper before writing something new and showing it to him. _Small metal bowl filled with water in larger bowl filled with ammonia mixture = Rae's Ice Trick._

He blinked several times, digesting what she had written and trying to remember—ah, right, when the Frost King had been wasting away in her springhouse. Willow _had_ said that Rae scienced it. He _ahh_ed appreciatively at the information, prompting her to write something else.

_I think those two are an item._ This accompanied by pointing at Willow and Yugi, snuggled together in their sleep.

It took a lot of self-control to not instantly fly into an apoplectic fit, instead settling for hastily writing _they are NOT romantically involved!_

Rae fiddled with her pencil before writing a response: _The notion has been corrupted quite a bit over the years, hasn't it?_

He stared at her in confusion, prompting her to continue: _Different kinds of love—gross kissy stuff isn't only one._ She gave her writing some thought before adding a line: _You love them, right?_

He stared at that line for the longest time. He felt responsible for them, yes…and, he supposed, there was the touch of the familial there….

He nodded before writing his response, feeling that this was the sort of thing that needed to be confirmed with more than just a simple motion: _Yes._

She nodded, as though that said everything.

And then she was back to writing: _So, any thoughts on how you're going to pay me back for this mess?_

He couldn't help but quirk a smile at that—pull out a fresh piece of paper, start sketching and writing as the night passed in surprisingly companionable silence.

_First,_ he wrote, sitting so he was facing her and it was easier for her to see what he was doing. _Indoor plumbing—you're going to love it…._


	104. Median Goals

**Chapter 104, everyone! Which I actually had done before Saturday…and yet still took all day in submitting it because I was busy elsewhere—something's wrong with me. :|**

**And daylight savings time, baby! Extra hour of sunlight! :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! True, very true—and also true. Plus, they probably don't have cell service up there in the mountains. :D Aha, yes, but don't worry—he'll get the opportunity to show them up. Uh, let's see…*checks notes* Willow and Yugi were between three and four when they left for the mountains, and are actually about fourteen now—Yami, Bakura, and Teana are all in their early twenties, Joey and Tristan are in their late teens, Serenity is about Yugi and Willow's age, Rae is about twenty-seven, and Wilson is the oldest at thirty. So yes, you were pretty close. :) Aha, yes indeed—if you recall when he met the Frost King, what he's most emotionally invested in is his science machine (which, to be honest, was initially written as a throwaway joke). Ah, yes, he _is_ naïve in those matters (although to be fair, Yugi and Willow's relations have been more sibling-like up until perhaps recently). No, he doesn't—Wilson really has no investment in romance or anything related to it, so he just thinks Rae is having fun with him (she probably is). Although, you could be right in that—he could be nest-building. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, and this chapter is a teeny bit slow too—don't worry, we'll be back to threatening our heroes' lives soon. Hmm—it must have all come up here. That seems to describe our house…and that ****_used_**** to describe my laptop (it doesn't do anything anymore, so…). Haha, yes—my Dad's complaining that the house is tilting from all the books I have (but it doesn't stop him from reading them). Invest in milk crates—they stack. Huh—must be an American thing (we're so weird at times…).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Chicken Run © 2000 Aardman Studios/Dreamworks (I had it playing on my top screen when I was working on this, which is why we have the sort of "It's all in me head" moment)**

Wilson woke them up early in the morning, eager to get going. Yugi would have been too, if Wilson hadn't insisted on being _chipper_. Oi.

"What crawled into _his_ head?" Willow moaned, rubbing her face.

"No clue," Yugi said to her, watching Wilson bustle around and hastening their packing. At one point, Wilson glanced at Rae—Yugi noted the expression they shared. "Okay, maybe I have a _little_ idea…."

Willow noted the same thing. "I told you."

"To be fair, you told me this when they weren't getting along and Rae was trying to kill us."

"I could tell—they were fated."

"Now, none of that bunk from you," Wilson said, walking behind them and heading for Bakura. "Where to?" he asked the thief.

"Still that far mountain," Bakura said, hooking his thumb at the one in question.

"Not that way," Yami interjected, pausing his conversation with the cardinal. "And cardinal-friend says he has to go back home. He and his wife—oh really? Congratulations—their eggs are about to hatch. But he wanted to see us off right, and he says he'll tell everyone about the Screechers."

Long pause at that information, as Yami bid the cardinal goodbye and it flew off, circling around Yami and then Yugi and Willow before disappearing in the early morning fog.

"Well," Wilson said finally. "That was…interesting. Not scientifically enlightening, but interesting. And it being dangerous doesn't change the fact that we do have a need to go in that direction, so it's your job to navigate us there safely," he informed Yami.

Willow nudged Yugi before addressing Wilson. "Yeah! We should head for that mountain first," she said, pointing to the nearer mountain—the one Yami had identified as the one he woke up on.

Yugi guessed the nudge was for him to argue the point in tandem. "It _would_ be a good idea," he said slowly. "Because…it would give us a good…what's that term Wilson likes to use?" he asked Willow.

"Median goal," Willow said. "It's a goal between starting something and actually accomplishing it—you're supposed to have them on big projects."

Wilson had his _I don't like it when you use my big words against me_ expression on, but they could see that he could see that there _was_ a point to what they said.

"All right," he sighed, turning to face both Bakura and Yami. "Navigators: opinions on heading that way first? Keep in mind that a straight shot would take less time."

"But it gives us something to go towards in that fog," Willow pointed out, coming up behind him and peeking around. Yugi did the same on his other side, so used to doing things with Willow that it had become second nature. Yami tipped his head, motion accentuated by his antlers.

"I'm for going the straight way," Bakura said.

"I'm not," Yami said, looking at Bakura.

"Then compromise and extrapolate a curve," Rae called over, drawing the shape in the air.

"Can we do that?" Yami asked, looking at her.

"That's on the list of worse ideas," Wilson said. "Unless that course is less fraught, I'm not for wandering about in that fog any longer than I have to."

Yami was sort of half-pacing, starting back and forth with his front limbs while his legs stayed still, shaking his head slightly as he did so.

"All right," he said finally, dipping his head down and back up in that way he did when he had made his mind up about something. "We'll go to _that_ mountain first." He indicated the nearer mountain. "And then from there we go to that other mountain that we really shouldn't go to."

"Are you going to be enlightening as to why?" Wilson asked.

"It's not safe that way."

Wilson was massaging his temples now. Yup—his good mood was gone. "Yami, don't you think you could say a _little_ more on the subject?" Yugi asked.

Yami gave it some thought. "There's things with teeth that'll eat us if we go that way."

"That works," Tristan said, pausing in his packing to point at Yami.

"Are you kidding?" Joey asked. "That describes most of the mountain range. Wolves and bears ring a bell?"

"Regrettably, Mr. Wheeler has a point," Wilson said. "We're just going to have to risk it and hope for the best. You two," he said, looking down at Willow and Yugi. "Get Yami harnessed—we're leaving, right now."

* * *

The party became notably more subdued the closer they got to the snow fog, lapsing into absolute silence when they entered it. The sound of the runners on the snow and Yami's jingle-bells seemed unnaturally loud and out of place.

"Maybe this is clouds?" Willow asked, sounding like she was taking quite an effort to actually make a sound beyond breathless fright. "Like when we left the mountain the first time?"

"This could be from any number of causes," Wilson said, gesturing about slightly. "A hot spring, maybe, or clouds, or the sun melting the snow…."

"Not the science talk again," Joey moaned, leaning against Tristan's back.

"Now, remember what happened the _last_ time we complained," Tristan pointed out.

"Oh yeah—Yugi got kidnapped, we get beaten up, and then stuck with a white-haired goon."

"You're not going to kill them," Teana said sharply, looking at Bakura. "Say it."

Bakura closed his eyes in an aggrieved expression, but finally did say "I'm not going to kill them, I'm not going to kill them…."

"Good. Keep telling yourself that."

"_Why_ am I not going to kill them?"

"I'd kill you," Wilson said, matter-of-factly. Yugi and Willow exchanged glances: _wow_. Gentleman scientist or no, Wilson had sounded very…serious about that statement.

"I'd help," Rae interposed.

"And I'd never speak to you again," Teana finished.

For some reason, that last one seemed to be the one that bothered Bakura most. "Fine, fine," he moaned. "I won't kill them, no matter how much I may want to."

"Good," Teana said, brightly. "I'm glad we had this little chat."

"And don't you feel better?" Serenity asked, seeming blithely unaware of the tension. "Now that you've got something to work towards?"

Bakura was staring straight ahead, at a point above Yami's head, every muscle locked, rocking back and forth slightly with an indescribable expression on his face.

"It'll make you feel better if you say it out loud," Teana counseled.

"I'm not going to kill them I'm not going to kill them," Bakura muttered, in time with his rockings.

Yugi glanced at Willow, who seemed to finally give into a need that had been eating away at her since they started.

"Are we there yet?" she moaned.


	105. Loaded for Bear

**Chapter 106, everyone! In which we have a ****_big_**** reference to one of the major inspirations for this story, the movie ****_Balto _****(which I watched again last night while writing this chapter)—love that movie. And the true story it's based on. Fitting that it's set in Alaska.**

**We also get a reference to one of the giants from ****_Don't Starve_****—initially wasn't going to do it, but then I figured it fit too well. So have one—or two.**

**Had to look up the title for this chapter to make sure it meant what I thought….The term "Loaded for Bear," by the by, is American informal—according to the Free Dictionary—for being ready and eager for something very difficult. It also refers to an old munitions term for ammo prepped for use against—you guessed it—bears.**

**And one more thing! Rae here references one famous Teddy Roosevelt moment, when Roosevelt said the exact same thing to one of his entourage during a safari hunt (back when such action wasn't frowned upon), when said member of his entourage was being chased by a bull elephant. It's one of those things my history teacher told us that just ****_stuck_**** with me, and I try to reference it whenever there's an opportunity.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Not really, but that'll change this chapter (didn't want to just run right into it). No problem! I really need to start working on my descriptions early on in a story….Wow, I didn't think they were that old at the beginning of the show, but then again, I always guess lower with ages—and yes, that's true…and that's true too….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, no! Not that! D: But at least she wasn't asking it right out of the gate. It ****_is_**** fun to read—and to write, although if it gets too exciting I have to get up and run around the house (used to do the same thing with my Saturday morning cartoons—drove my parents nuts). I think it's computers in general—my Xidax isn't even a year old yet, and every once in a while it'll make this "dchck" noise. Believe it or not, Mom was the one who picked them up—they actually do the job well, but if the space isn't there….Strangely enough, that's also very American—to give an example, we've got the (not so) lovely Pumpkin-Chunkin', which is basically an excuse to drunkenly fling produce (brought to you by the country that hosts the world's largest ball of twine…).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Balto © 1995 Universal Pictures &amp; Amblin Entertainment**

They descended beneath the snow-fog, into a valley tinged a perpetual twilight. Soft flurries drifted across on occasion, causing weird shapes in between the slim, straight, dark trees.

They were heading for the mountain that Yami woke up upon. And that little tidbit of knowledge made Yugi remember Wilson's story, of Ushio and his contingent searching for the missing Crown Prince. He wondered if they had made it this far, before they had run into Yami. What must that have been like, running into the Frost King in _this_?

Yami, currently, seemed wary of his surroundings but not perturbed, judging by the way he was holding his head up instead of hunched between his shoulders, scanning the area as he continued on his merry way.

"I gotta walk for a while," Rae declared finally, breaking the silence. "I'm getting a crick in my back from sitting like this."

"That'll take longer," Wilson counseled.

"Be that as it may, I need to have feeling in my lumbar region," Rae countered, hopping off the sled and stumbling a little. "It's not like I'm off taking a Sunday stroll—don't be stupid."

Yami had stopped and was looking at them, ears swiveling. "What's a lumbar-region?" he asked.

"The part of your back that sits right above your hips," Rae said, massaging the corresponding area and arching her back. Yugi could almost _hear_ the bones in question pop.

Wilson could too, apparently. "All right," he sighed. "I suppose we can all walk for a little bit—but I want to be on that mountainside _before_ dark; no tarrying."

"Wasn't planning on it."

* * *

Five minutes later, Yugi and Willow were entertaining themselves with pelting everyone with snowballs. Joey and Tristan were performing countermeasures, although for the most part it ended up being a free-for-all on Bakura, who was now loudly complaining under his coating of snow.

Wilson had a headache again.

"All right, that's enough," he announced, turning to face them. "Everyone back on the—"

His statement was cut off by a snowball to the face, so hard he was knocked flat on his back.

"All right!" he heard Rae cheer. "Pow! Right to the kisser!"

Joy, even the other somewhat-adult had ceased being serious—he couldn't help but heave a sigh in frustration. Maybe he should lay there a while—cool off, ease his migraine.

Except a sudden drop in temperature told him he wouldn't be left unaccosted.

"Are you okay?" Yami asked.

"I'm just _peachy_," Wilson moaned, wiping the snow off his face to see Yami hovering over him, looking anxious. Wilson waved him off and sat up; Yami sat down next to him. So much for not tarrying.

"What part of _being through this valley before nightfall_ did you all _not_ comprehend?" Wilson called; no dice. He struggled to his feet, crossed over to the sled, started rooting through the packs.

"What are you looking for?" Yami asked, coming over to look.

"An axe so we can gather some firewood," Wilson said tetchily. "Considering forward momentum has come to an absolute halt."

"Oh."

Wilson sighed, found the axe, pulled it out, turned—

Stopped when he noticed how rigid Yami was standing, ears pricked, scanning the area.

"What is it?" Wilson asked.

"I…don't know," Yami said slowly. "But I don't like it."

That—made Wilson not like it either, whatever _it_ was.

"Guys?" he called. "I think we should keep moving—_hey!"_ he snapped, turning—he most certainly did _not_ need this. "We need to get moving—"

He stopped dead.

There was something big and black lumbering through the fog—

Yami was snarling—glance back—

He wasn't looking where Wilson had been.

Quick—two-fingered whistle, something he had learned from Hannah after seeing its effectiveness. They looked—_"Run! Now!" _he ordered, starting forward to wave them to the sled—

And then the woods exploded in a snarling wall of fur.

Wilson skidded to a halt—it was the only natural response at the sight of an _enormous_ pitch-black bear, far too large for the species. And—and grizzlies didn't come in black, that detached, clinical brain cell argued.

And they most certainly did _not_ have glowing green eyes.

_"Wilson! Behind you!"_

He wasn't even sure who screamed as they scattered—wait, what?

He turned—

There was a second one, barreling down the path they were on, straight at Yami, who was braced for it, wings half-spread and snarling—

Wilson made a snap decision, ran up to the sled and brought the axe down on the harness trails, freeing Yami from the sled—

Yami charged forward, slamming into the bear and burying his antlers into its chest as it reared—

And then slammed Yami away and into a tree with minimal effort. Wilson could actually _hear_ the sickening crunch—

Oh. It was looking at him now.

Survival instincts overrode all others, and he bolted, hoping it'd be more interested in the sled and the food it had—_but it probably needs toothpicks_, he thought inanely—

Rae was standing in the path, braced, shotgun to her shoulder and sighting down it.

"Get down!" she yelled. "You're in my shot!"

_Excuse me?_ She wanted him to do _what?_

_"Now!" _she yelled.

There was nothing for it—he threw his axe away, dove, hit the snow, rolled, arms up around his head, legs pulled up to protect his core, although _nothing_ would stop those teeth and claws—

And then thunder rolled.

No—Rae had fired her shotgun.

And then something big and heavy fell on Wilson.

Terror and panic and thoughts of how he was still much too young to die and even if he weren't this was a rotten way to go chased each other through his mind—

And then he realized the big wall of fur and muscle and weight above him wasn't moving.

"Wilson?" Rae's voice reached him. "Wilson!"

He forced himself out of his fear-induced paralysis once he assured himself that yes, he was alive, and thank goodness for the deep snow, otherwise he'd have been irreparably squished. "I'm fine," he called in a strangled sort of way—clear his throat. "I'm fine! I just thought I'd see about a bear-skin suit!"

Rae made a noise that might have been a cough or a laugh, and he struggled towards it—because if she was there, then that meant fresh air was too, and despite the rapidly cooling corpse above and the snow below, he was getting _very_ hot and uncomfortable and it was getting _very_ hard to breathe—

His hand stretched into an empty pocket just as something scratched against it—he pulled back—

"Wilson!"

Oh wait—she must have been digging under—

He forced himself forward, got his hand back into that empty pocket, plus some arm length—hands grabbed his forearm, he gripped a forearm in return, pushed off as hard as he could with his legs as whoever hauled back—

Oh sweet merciful heaven—fresh air. He took a deep breath, appreciating the fur-free atmosphere, rubbing his chest as he looked up at Rae, who sat back on her legs and sagged in absolute relief—oh boy, that had been much too close….

He sat up, still massaging his chest, pulled his legs out from under the dead bear, looked at it—the back of the head was blown to smithereens: Rae's shotgun blast.

"Nice shot," he managed. Rae just nodded and waved him off.

Wilson nodded, feeling at a loss for words himself; he looked over, saw Yami struggling to an upright position from the tree he had been knocked into. "Yami!" he called. "Are you okay?"

Yami trembled as he stood, coughed up something red, but started their way just the same. Well, at least there was that—he was missing an antler, Wilson noted. It must have been lost in the skirmish, when he charged the bear.

He couldn't help but look back at the thing. Massive, black, and shaggy, with terrible claws and horrid teeth…lighter streaks through some of the thicker fur…and the head, what remained of it, had overtones of badger to it….Rae must have shot it when it had its mouth wide open in a roar.

He wasn't trembling as badly now—he felt composed enough to go hunting for the rest of their little troupe—

"Wait," he noised, looking abruptly at Rae. "Weren't there two of them?"

And then they heard the screams.


	106. The Polar Plunge

**Chapter 106, everyone! In which we continue the ****_Balto_**** motif—I originally had this as two chapters, but when I checked the word count, it came up pretty short, so we have the whole thing sitting right here. The Polar Plunge, for those who don't know, is another name for the Polar Bear Plunge—you know, that thing where people go running into the ocean in the dead of winter?**

**In other news, writing in absolute panic is _weird._**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes it was—we were almost Wilson-less! D: He shouldn't be—and quite possibly. Wilson's theorizing implies that yes, Yami's antlers will grow back eventually ("if not, they're just horns"), but Yami will still go around lopsided for a while. We shall find out this chapter!**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, there it is! Isn't it great? If you're not the characters? Yes….Actually, you're supposed to do that anyway, as sitting for too long is bad for your back (I have a vertebrae that ****_loves_**** to give me grief because I sit at my computer too long D: ). They're communicating with each other to plot the overthrow of the human race….Ha, that ****_does_**** sound entertaining—was it sponsored by Barbasol? *mind sees "shaving cream" and instantly thinks of the can from the ****_Jurassic Park_**** movie***

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Balto © 1995 Universal Pictures &amp; Amblin Entertainment**

_"Run! Now!"_

And then the woods exploded as something big and massive barreled through—

Yugi grabbed Willow, Willow grabbed Yugi, and they both ran screaming, the others following suit as the absolute _biggest_ bear anyone had ever seen came out of the woods—

Trip, tumble down the slope they were running down—Yugi slammed into a fallen log, winded—

And got a perfect upside-down view of the massive bear—badger—bear-badger, whatever it was—

Except it wasn't angling for him.

He rolled upright—

It was heading for Willow, scared beyond the capacity for breathing, in a more direct path and currently trapped in a bush that looked like it had thorns—

Yugi acted before he could think, scooping up a quickly-formed snowball and throwing it at the monster-bear's head, hollering _"Hey you!"_

The snowball hit its ear, it turned—

Glared at him with glowing green eyes.

Oh yeah—no plan for what to do if it decided to go after him instead.

Except for the obvious—run for all he was worth.

Fear drove all but the most inane thoughts from his mind as he ran pell-mell down the slope away from the roaring monster-bear, like how running down a hill sucked and that he wished he could run on snow like Yami to hoping that this bear would choke when it tried to eat him—

And then trip—tumble—

And then the world evened out, and he went sliding—

Wait, sliding?

_Oh no._

He scrambled upright, noting the vast expanse of flat ground, of the slick coldness beneath him, of the dark path left in the snow by his slide—

Ice.

He was sitting on a lake.

And the monster-bear was stalking towards him.

He scrambled back, slipping—

The bear put its paw on the ice—

_Crack_.

Oh no.

He was aware of people on the hill yelling, but the thought of what would happen when that bear came out on the ice sent him running for all he was worth, slipping and sliding and falling—

The action prompted the bear to charge—

The ice cracked, groaned, wailed even—

And then it broke beneath the bear, sending it plummeting into the icy depths—

And breaking the rest of the ice.

Including the ice that Yugi was currently on.

He had enough time to register his world tilting, to scramble frantically against the inexorable sliding as the floe he was on tipped skyward, flipping—

And then all thought was driven from his mind at the icy shock.

* * *

Wilson and Rae reached the edge of the steep slope, tumbling away down to a flat, windblown expanse—he could see the rest of them dotting the slope, spotting them—

And then he saw the bear, and Yugi beyond—

_Oh no_.

"Shoot it!" he ordered, running down the slope, half-sliding, half-falling, reaching Willow, struggling in a thorny bush, wailing for Yugi—

"I can't shoot it!" Rae yelled, dropping her shotgun down to the crook of her elbow and digging in her pockets. "I might hit Yugi!"

Willow was yelling as Wilson ripped at the bush, yelled at Joey and Tristan to get over here and get her out, running as they hastened to obey—glance back—Rae had her smaller handgun out, was frantically trying to load the other caliber of bullet it could take—

_Crack_.

No. Oh _no—_

That noise, that singular noise froze all activity as the bear vanished beneath the ice—

He could see, clearly, in slow motion, even—Yugi frozen, halfway up from a crouch; cracks like dark wounds spreading out—

And then the ice floe that Yugi was on tipping, Yugi fighting gravity's hold—

And then slipping soundlessly into the water as the floe completed its turn, plugging the hole and hiding the fact that anyone had ever been there.

Wilson's ears were ringing—_run, get down there, now_—

And then something cold blew by him—

The Frost King.

He had just enough time to register Yami making a flying leap, diving into the hole the bear had left in the ice—

And the ice froze mid-splash as he disappeared into the depths, sending a spiky spray into the air.

Oh no—this was worse.

"Get the ice picks _now!"_ he hollered back up the slope, half-running, half-sliding down the rest of the way. "Bakura! Get down here! _Now!"_

* * *

Yami was assailed with a lot of different emotions upon hitting the icy water, _fear_ being the overwhelming one—the bear had been big and scary and mean and crazy, smelling of madness—

But this was worse—this was the thought that he'd lose Yugi, that he'd get trapped down here—he remembered the last time he had encountered water like this—his head had been trapped, and Yugi had to get him out.

But with Yugi under the water—

_No. No. Find him first._

Because something deep and instinctive had seized up upon seeing Yugi fall into the water—hypothermia, Yugi had mentioned so long ago. But this was something else—some instinct knew that Yugi couldn't survive being under water like this.

And neither could Yami.

Yami couldn't breathe underwater, could barely swim—instinct was telling him how to paddle, but there was some sort of current here pulling him—

And the water was freezing solid with his presence.

He had to find Yugi, get him out before they were both trapped in ice—

There—struggling against the ice, beating ineffectually with his fist, trying to break it—

And then sinking without struggle.

Yami paddled harder, reaching Yugi before he sunk too far into the murky darkness, hooking him behind that first prong on his remaining antler—

And then the ice caught up with them.

_Nononononononono—_that mantra furiously ran through his mind as he struggled, trying not to lose Yugi as he tried to free his legs—but now the water around his front limbs was beginning to slurry—

And then it was nothing but ice.

No air—they were trapped.

No—_no no no no no—_there had to be another way out—the others would dig their way down, maybe—

They'd be dead by then.

His heart throbbed painfully—not Yugi—he couldn't let his best and first friend die like this—not after he had taught him so much—

Something occurred to him then.

They were trapped in _ice_.

The entrance to his home was _ice_.

What, pray tell, was the difference?

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, gathered himself—physically, mentally, and some other part of him that drew power from the ice and the snow and the cold—

And leapt straight up.

The wind hit him—they were back on the surface.

He landed, deposited Yugi—

"Yugi!" he yelped, thrilled at their escape. "Did you see that? We made it!...Yugi?"

Yugi wasn't moving.


	107. Frozen

**Chapter 107, everyone! In which we find out if our intrepid heroes all survive….For the record, from the beginning of the bear attack through to the end of the first scene here was one of the first portions of the story to come to me when I started this story up—I have been waiting ****_so long_**** to write it, and now it's finally done. ;v;**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Aha, thank you—that may come from this whole event simmering on the back burner for so long (this and a handful of other scenes came to me whole-cloth when I was initially brainstorming this story [****_Balto_**** helped immensely there]). Good question…perhaps they were….Yes, absolutely correct on both counts—and on Yami, as well. Good Frost King! I hope so too—it wouldn't do to kill off one of the main characters after all this time (I hate it when that happens). D:**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, no! And I think the group had this conversation a few chapters back….Yes, I'm sure, although they don't want to be ****_bored_**** either…that's why we have regular hound attacks in-game and random crazy people in the show! Yes…although to be fair, if we listened to everything the doctors told us, we wouldn't be able to do ****_anything_**** (and then even that would be bad for us). I still make it a point to get up every hour or so, even if it's just to walk to the kitchen and back (the pain is real, and I don't like it D:).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Balto © 1995 Universal Pictures &amp; Amblin Entertainment (the bearger attack is inspired by the grizzly attack in the movie)**

**Jurassic Park © 1993 Steven Spielberg ("****_No, Tim!"_****—part of the resuscitation scene)**

**The Sorcerer's Apprentice © 2010 Jon Turteltaub ("You were insulting me. Repeatedly"—another part of the resuscitation scene)**

They ran, all aggravation with each other forgotten, Bakura consulting the Ring and running after Wilson, who ran across the ice without hesitation—because the Frost King had touched it, and the water beneath was now frozen solid. Joey and Tristan ran after them, picks in hand, Willow behind them, unmindful of her scratches and gouges from the thorny bush.

Because Yugi was under there, and Yugi was drowning.

Bakura identified a spot, and everyone started whaling away—frantic, determined, fearful—Serenity and Teana were hugging each other, Teana trying to be comforting but both sobbing—

Willow couldn't help but stare at Wilson, attacking the ice for all he was worth, nearly stabbing himself in the back every time he swung back to attack the ice with savage desperation—

And then Bakura said something about how they had moved—

And then Yami leapt straight out of the solid ice.

Willow ran, easily outpaced by Wilson despite the slippery ice—Yami was hovering over Yugi, who looked like a small wet bundle—

And he wasn't moving.

_"Move!"_ Wilson ordered, physically shoving Yami aside, dropping to his knees next to Yugi, hands laced together and arms stiff as he started pumping up and down on Yugi's chest, trying to get him to breathe, giving him mouth-to-mouth and yelling _no, Yugi!_ And the others were coming and Willow was pacing and trying very hard not to cry _no, no, not Yugi no please not Yugi—_

And then Yugi coughed, and water gushed out of his mouth, and he groaned—

There wasn't even enough time for relief to ripple through them before Wilson was yelling at them, telling them to get the sled down to that clearing over there _right now_—but Yami wasn't moving, and neither was Willow, who dropped down to her knees next to Yugi in relief.

"Yugi!" she couldn't help but gasp, eyes hurting—frozen tears. He was coughing and groaning, but he was _alive…._

"I had a _horrible_ dream," Yugi managed to rasp finally. "Wilson was kissing me. Repeatedly."

Willow let out a long breath, in the cadence of a laugh, and Wilson scowled and waved her off as he scooped Yugi up and headed for that clearing he had identified, telling her to get as much wood together as she could and build the absolute _biggest_ bonfire that she had ever seen—

But that was all right. She could do that.

Yugi was all right.

* * *

This had to be the second most-embarrassing thing to ever happen to Yugi.

Wilson was courteous enough at least to chase everyone else off who wasn't immediately essential after the boys ran the sled down the hill, but that still left Willow around—who fortunately busied herself with the fire as Wilson stripped Yugi of all his cold, wet clothes. It also helped that Wilson was employing his usual clinical uncomfortableness, so Yugi was bundled up in several layers of blankets before he could feel that his privacy had been made forfeit.

Wilson had Teana and Serenity making drying racks for Yugi's clothes when they came back, while Rae patrolled and Joey and Tristan hunted for firewood and Willow built the fire up to such a level Yugi was surprised the area didn't combust. Willow was thrilled at its size, at least.

Yugi, however, was surprised that he didn't feel it. He felt…cold, maybe, but mostly he felt nothing. He wondered if this was what Yami felt like.

That was kind of depressing, to be honest.

Wilson, meanwhile, was alternating between rubbing Yugi's feet and his hands, pausing once to throw a blanket on Yugi's head and tell Willow to rub his hair dry when she got the chance. Yugi knew why—staving off frostbite. That was important. He'd rather not get frostbite. He'd _really_ like to keep all his fingers and toes.

"Feeling anything?" Wilson asked as it gradually grew dark.

Starting to—like ice water was flowing through his veins. "My feet hurt," Yugi complained.

"Good," Wilson said, going back to rubbing Yugi's arm. "That means there's blood flow."

Yugi _was_ starting to shiver, although he thought that might be from leftover adrenaline from having two monster bears attack and try to eat them. That would have been bad. Really bad. Okay, maybe his brain froze too, to produce an understatement like that—maybe this _was_ how Yami felt.

Again, that was a little depressing.

Willow was rubbing his head now with the blanket. "Hey," Yugi complained.

"Sorry, but you needed it," she said. "Your head looks funny when your hair is all wet."

"I've decided I'm never going swimming again," Yugi declared. "It's just not as fun as people say it is."

"Most people don't go swimming in a frozen lake on top of a mountain range," Wilson said, switching to Yugi's other arm. Huh, his arm felt…kind of wet….

Yugi stared at it, feeling his stomach sort of flip-flop. "Wilson…."

Wilson looked, checked his arm over—slick with blood.

He grabbed a blanket, wiped Yugi's arm down—nothing.

Wilson scowled at it slightly, and Rae, who had noticed the change in tone, came over to examine him as well—no, she was looking at Wilson.

"Wilson," she said, rather blandly. "Would you kindly show me your hands, please?"

Wilson did so. Yugi's stomach did that flip-flop thing again.

Wilson's hands were raw and bloody.

"_Ew,"_ Yugi and Willow noised in tandem.

"You've been getting blood all over me," Yugi pointed out.

"You have," Rae said. "Come with me; let's get you bandaged up."

Wilson was kind of looking at his hands like he didn't think they were his, prompting Rae to actually bodily pull him along and drag him over to the sled.

"Feeling warmer?" Willow decided to ask.

Yugi nodded. "Stop messing up my hair, by the way."

"No way—this is kind of fun."

"I'm going to have a mess of tangles with the way you're drying my head."

"And then I get to comb it again."

"I'll be bald at this rate."

"I suppose we can't have _that," _Willow said, ceasing her toweling and instead opting to sit next to him for a moment. "So…really, how are you doing?" she asked.

Yugi shrugged. "I was a little worried I'd sprout antlers there for a while."

"Then you and Yami could take turns pulling the sled."

"We could."

Willow leaned against him. "I was seriously worried you were dead back there."

"Yeah…sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

"I would have to hit you if you did."

Long silence as they watched Rae tend to Wilson's hands.

"Thanks for saving me," she said finally.

Yugi shrugged. "You would have done the same for me."

She shrugged. "Maybe."

"Gee, thanks."

"Wilson would have beaten you to it."

"Probably."

"I don't think he has to worry about frostbite, though," Willow said.

"Huh?" Yugi noised, startled by the rather abrupt change of subject.

"Wilson shoved Yami out of the way so he could start with the mouth-to-mouth and all that—I was thinking about it when I was working on the fire. He could have had frostbite on his hands from that."

"Huh. Where _is_ Yami, by the way?"

"Wilson chased him off—he said Yami had to give you some distance until your body temperature was back to normal. He's over there," she added, pointing.

Yugi looked. Yami was sitting by the lake, looking out over it.

"He looks funny with only one antler," Yugi observed.

"Yeah."

Silence. They watched Serenity try to hang Yugi's Peabody on the drying rack, fail because it was frozen, and end up leaning it against the rack.

"When are the guys coming back with more firewood?" Willow complained.

That—was answered by the guys screaming and running down the hill, pursued by a very angry pine tree.

"I t-think L-l-lief's cousin's took off-f-fense to that," Yugi observed—yay, he was shivering now. Probably a good sign.

Yami was suddenly between Lief's cousin and Joey and Tristan, wings flared, front end down, and snarling angrily.

_"Back off!"_ he ordered. "They're getting wood so Yugi doesn't freeze to death! Are you really going to be that—that _lousy_ as to let someone die over a couple of branches!?"

Yugi couldn't help but exchange glances with Willow—_wow_.

Lief's cousin grumbled, looked like it was looking at the camp, and ceased its pursuit.

Instead, it circled around and planted itself directly behind Yugi, screening him from the wind that was beginning to pick up.

Yugi froze—not literally; he had been there, not fun, didn't want to do it again—fear making his mind go blank for a few moments.

"_Help,"_ he eked out finally, although the breathy fear in his voice made it more of a high-pitched _eep_.

Yami, however, seemed satisfied, and laid down, watching the tree.

Willow was looking at said tree. "Am I allowed to keep feeding the fire?" she asked.

The tree shook, close enough that pine needles scattered about and landed on Yugi's blankets.

"He says he guesses so," Yami translated, sounding surprisingly sour. "We'll talk about it later, so he knows how important it is."

Yugi gave that some thought.

"When y-you do, could y-you m-m-move a little?" he asked the tree. "He h-has the habit of t-talking trees to death, and I d-don't want to be in the way if you f-f-fall over."

Willow started laughing as the tree sagged. Yup—it wasn't looking forward to that at _all._


	108. The Frost King and the Thief Prince

**Chapter 108, everybody! Which contains another scene I've been looking forward to writing…and we get a nice long chapter to boot. Woo! Now if only I could get these written ahead of time….**

**Dry-drowning is a real thing, by the way, and is caused when a person suddenly enters the water and inhales some (like being tackled into a pool). It can occur hours after the person has entered the water and gotten back out—hence the term dry-drowning.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, it is—nice relief, plus excitement that it came across well. :D Yes, thank goodness! Hopefully not—but Wilson's on the lookout, so there's that. Yes…I kind of think the mouth-to-mouth might be more traumatic for Yugi than the blood on him (but then again, ****_ew_****). Glad you like them too—it's always fun to write about grumpy trees that end up being nice despite themselves. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, why aren't they? But then again, I doubt the average person would react well to a tree standing up on them. It was a while ago, when we were going through that slow spot…and true—we find entertainment in non-life-threatening ways every day (but keep in mind, these guys don't have access to the Internet). Oh yes—there are ****_very_**** good reasons why none of my family goes to the doctors anymore. Ouch—invest in one of those stress-ball things; that's supposed to strengthen your hand muscles, so it might help (Mom got me one when I was learning how to write in an attempt to cure my terrible penmanship, because someone said it was from weak hand muscles—although I'm not sure if it helped, to tell the truth…).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**The Golden Girls © 1985 Susan Harris (the "Better than anyone I know" exchange comes from that show)**

Wilson flexed his hands as he sat next to Yugi. He _really_ couldn't afford to let his hands get stiff—it was bad enough he let them get all bloody. Rubbed them raw. Oi, he hadn't even noticed….

Yugi, meanwhile, was past the first major danger point, he felt, considering the vehemence with which he was shivering.

"Suh-suh-so," Yugi managed. "I-I-I g-g-guess w-w-we'll t-t-try fuh-fuh-_for_ th-the m-mountain t-tomor-row?"

Oi, that was painful to listen to. "Try not to talk," Wilson ordered, silently adding a _please_ to it. "And no, we will not. We're going to be spending the next few days making sure you don't succumb to hypothermia, lose anything to frostbite, or die of dry-drowning. So no, we won't be going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Sorry," he added to the tree behind them. It shook, but thankfully didn't stand again.

"Suh-suh-sorry," Yugi said.

"What did we say about not talking? Please don't answer that," Wilson said hastily, waving off Yugi's attempt at answering him. "None of this is your fault—those bears could have attacked at any time—"

"Beargers," Willow said from Yugi's other side, interrupting.

"Excuse me?"

"We discussed it, and we think that's what the monster-bears ought to be called. 'Cause they looked kind of like badgers and kind of like bears."

Oi…."Whatever they were, they could have attacked at any time—I suppose we should be grateful that you were able to dump it into a lake." And how surprising that it hadn't come up yet—he would have thought that bears could swim…ah, but Yami's little dip had frozen the lake quite solidly.

Yami, meanwhile, kept scanning the lake, as though he weren't entirely certain the…bearger…would stay down. He hadn't moved from the side of the lake, and didn't give any indication that he was planning to, either. Wilson supposed his vigil was a good thing.

Yugi gave a stuttering sigh, looked to Willow; Wilson wondered if their silent-speak was affected by uncontrollable shaking.

"It's a pity about the hat," Willow said, translating. Yugi nodded in assent.

Ah.

While Yugi and Yami had made it through the dunking, Yugi's googly-eyed penguin hat had not. Yugi had been in possession of it for as long as he could probably remember, something important made for him by his mother, and now it was gone, somewhere at the bottom of that vast, frozen lake. There was really no feasible way to retrieve it, and thus it was gone forever. Wilson supposed Yugi was taking the loss as well as he could be.

Yami's ears pivoted back, and then he was standing, and then off pacing away. Wilson wondered if he somehow felt guilty for that.

Wilson sighed, scratched the back of his neck—ow, hands were still wanting to go stiff. To be honest, he didn't know what to say to make this any better—he doubted there was such a thing. That hat was a security blanket for Yugi, like Willow's bear was for Willow. There it was now, tucked between her and Yugi, trying to do the job for the both of them.

So he didn't say anything. Willow had gotten over the loss of the bear eventually—Yugi would get over the loss of his hat. Eventually.

_Especially_ considering how close that call had been.

* * *

Yami paced out onto the lake, circling around, trying to find the general area he and Yugi had come out of. Yugi was sad that his hat was gone. Yami intended to fix that.

Except, he realized, he really had no idea where in this vast lake it was. Wilson had said something about staying for a few days, but Yami felt that it would take more than a few days to find the hat. The important hat, that was important to Yugi, that he had once given to Yami, that had long fooled Yami into thinking Yugi had four eyes…the hat that was now lost somewhere in the lake.

He sat down, frustrated. He was mad at himself for not saving it along with Yugi, although he had to admit that his focus had been more on saving Yugi than checking to see if the hat had come with them. He was angry at Lief's cousin Peter for wanting to be petty about a few branches. He was furious with those monster bears for attacking them and starting this whole mess.

And…to be honest, he was sick with himself for knowing how to get the hat back, but not doing it.

He curled his tail around his feet, glaring down at the ice as the wind picked up, sending swirls of snow skittering across the ice. He knew how to find the hat, but he didn't want to do it. Because Wilson didn't approve. Because Rae didn't approve. Because the others were dismissive.

…because his pride was getting in the way of his friend's happiness.

He exhaled deeply, trying to expel the truly sucky feeling deep in his chest. What was it that Rae was fond of saying? Suck it up and just _do_ it already.

So he did.

* * *

Bakura was tromping back to camp, hyper-aware, scanning everyplace for monster bears or killer trees—the trees _stood up_; what kind of place was this!?

And then something thumped down in the snow in front of him, startling him into flinging the bundle of sticks he had collected into the air as he fell back—he was fairly certain he had shrieked like a little girl; great.

And then he blinked at the sight of the Frost King there in front of him, looking for all the world like it was bowing, head down, front limbs out, rear end up in the air. Or maybe it looked like a begging dog—he half-expected it to sit back, front limbs tucked against its chest.

"What do you want?" Bakura spat, recovering. He didn't need being tormented by a frozen creature to round out this lousy day—or this lousy trip, either.

He was surprised to note the Frost King looked apologetic. "I need your help," he said.

Bakura blinked again, more than a little stunned. "You do what?"

Head down further until its lower jaw was buried in the snow. "I know you don't have any reason to, but I need your help," the Frost King said again.

"You've got that right," Bakura snarled. He was still cold down to his bones from being frosted by this thing, this mockery, and he felt no real need to be helpful at the moment. "What do you want?" The better to throw it back in its wolf-face.

Ears flat, as they had been. "I…I need you to find where in the lake Yugi's hat is."

Do what? "Come again?"

Now it was the Frost King's turn to look confused.

And before Bakura could say anything, it was gone.

"Okay," Bakura noised, because there was no other way to react to whatever this just was. "That was weird."

But before he could take two steps, the Frost King was back in front of him, in that weird begging-bow pose.

"What are you doing?" Bakura had to ask.

"You said 'come again,'" the Frost King said. "I did." Head back down on the ground. "Can you find where Yugi's hat is? Please?"

Absolute bafflement was beginning to replace Bakura's righteous anger towards this…_thing_. "_Why _is a stupid hat so important to you?"

"It's not a stupid hat," the Frost King countered. "It's important to Yugi. He's sad without it. And…and I really need to get it back, because it's important to him, and if I had been better, he wouldn't have lost it."

Okay, we might need a stronger word than bafflement. "A _hat_," Bakura said. "A _hat_ is _important?"_

"It means a lot to him," the Frost King said, obviously attempting to describe something it had no concept of. "It's…it's his treasure."

Ah. The one comparison a thief could understand. "A hat isn't a treasure," Bakura countered.

"Then what is?"

"Treasure is gold and silver and gems and the like—_important_ stuff."

"But this is important to Yugi."

"Forget it," Bakura spat, flinging his hands up at the mess and tromping away. Ugh, he hated snow.

"No!" the Frost King yelped, on its feet. "Please! I need your help! _Please! I'm begging!"_

Which was part of the problem—here was hoping it didn't follow.

_"I'm sorry!"_ it wailed.

Bakura stopped dead, turned to look at the Frost King—it was sitting down, slumped, wings drooping, head down in defeat.

"I'm sorry I frosted you when you didn't like it," the Frost King murmured. "I…please. This is important."

More reason why he refused to call this thing by its 'name'—the real Crown Prince would have never apologized for anything. "Why is this so important?" Bakura asked, genuinely interested in spite of himself.

"Because it's important to Yugi," the Frost King reiterated. "And he's sad without it. And…and I don't want him to be that way. I've got to make it better. If I messed up something, I have to make it right."

Okay…that was….Well….

Bakura tromped by the Frost King, heading downhill and indicating that he follow.

"Come on," he sighed. "Before I change my mind."

* * *

The Millennium Ring seemed to share Bakura's opinion on whether or not a hat qualified as _treasure_, but it accepted it faster than Bakura had. Within five minutes, he was walking out onto the lake, the Frost King following.

Somewhere in the middle, the prongs on the Ring pointed straight down. Bakura imitated the motion, telling the Frost King that the hat was down there somewhere. The Frost King's exuberant thanks made him uncomfortable, and he fled for the fire as the icy being jumped up and dove headfirst through the solid ice.

After the first few slips, Bakura slowed to a walk, pondering just what, exactly, had transpired. That was…weird. Very weird. Especially the apology—why was a stinking hat so important?

He reached the fire and sat by Teana, still with absolutely no clue how he was supposed to feel about what just happened.

"Are you okay?" Teana asked.

"I have no idea," Bakura said, honestly. "I'm not entirely sure what I just went through."

"You want to talk about it?"

Bakura snuck a glance at the Brother Prince—dozing—before answering. "Can I ask a stupid question?"

"Better than anyone I know," Rae responded from across the fire, busy cleaning her shotgun.

Teana frowned at her before indicating that Bakura go on.

"What's so important about a stupid hat?" Bakura asked, after checking the Brother Prince again.

Teana looked at him, the Brother Prince, then back to him, making an understanding noise in the back of her throat. "If I lost my hat, would you go looking for it?" she asked him.

"Sure, I guess."

"It's the same basic principle."

Okay then…now Bakura felt…something else on top of confusion. Probably bafflement again. He leaned on his knees and propped his head up, staring at the fire.

And then a cold gust of air blew in.

He shivered, looked up—

The Frost King was back, something frozen held in his mouth—

And then he spat it out near the fire and laid down, looking unsure of his welcome.

The stir he had caused upon arrival had woken the Brother Prince, who looked at the Frost King with confusion, then at whatever he had spat out—

The look of glee and relief that the Brother Prince exhibited was so strong and evident, Bakura was surprised his face didn't break. _"My hat!"_ the Brother Prince exclaimed.

Relief was in every line of the Frost King's body and face as he backed away, then retreated from the camp a ways before looking to Wilson for confirmation. Wilson nodded, and the Frost King laid back down again, looking content. Willow, meanwhile, had picked up the hat, was laughing at how frozen solid it was—

And the Brother Prince had actually collapsed against Wilson in relief, looking like he was sleeping solidly now.

Bakura felt eyes on him, looked to see Teana looking at him meaningfully.

"Okay," Bakura admitted. "I get it now."

"Good," Teana said, leaning against him.

Within a few moments, she was asleep too.


	109. Heading Downhill

**Chapter 109, everybody! Which is….Oh wow, that's dark….But we're sorry, and next chapter will be full of funny bits! I hope….**

**And we may have made passing mention of a certain ventriloquist comedian****….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Good question—if this Yami is that Yami, then it wouldn't make much sense for him to morph from a sweet goofy Frost King to a snobby Crown Prince. Like a bad frog prince—****_aaah! Kiss him again! Quick!_**** Yes…but he'll deny it, I feel; he doesn't want it getting around as to what a nice guy he really is. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! True…which makes me think of one ****_Calvin and Hobbes_**** strip, when the two go hunting for snakes—I can actually hear Wilson quoting it now: "I look forward to when we can get our morning jolts from coffee." Wait, I should use that….No they don't—to be fair, then they'd probably get nothing done that's worth reading about (especially if they found TV Tropes—aah!). Yes, moms are good for that….****_Wow_****. I don't badminton (is that how you say that?), but that sounds like most of my day (it never goes away…and might ruin your eyesight on top of it). Ow. Heheh, that is ****_precisely_**** how my handwriting used to be—it frustrated the life out of my Mom when it came time to grade my papers, so finally she made me read the answers to her. Things cleared up after that. Yes, practice more—take calligraphy classes (it's what my Mom is trying to get me into…). Yes, sketch that idea!**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Aladdin and the King of Thieves © 1996 Tad Stones**

**Road to El Dorado © 2000 DreamWorks (Pegasus kind of quotes it****—and autocorrect just capitalized DreamWorks properly, oh wow...)**

**Romancing the Stone © 1984 Robert Zemeckis (the description of the mountain is based on what the filming crew had to go through when filming on the side of a jungle mountain in a rainstorm****—not fun)**

Hannah vaguely remembered going _up_ the mountain, over a decade ago.

She did not recall it being this hard.

Gravity wasn't even with them—the sides of the mountain were muddy morasses that clung to them and tried to suck them in, like the mountain sensed they were leaving and struggling to keep them put. How ridiculous, as Wilson would say. This was all simply runoff from the melting snow.

In retrospect, they must have arrived in fall, and now were attempting to leave in spring.

This was a _mess._

Worse, the melting snow was loosening huge swathes of the mountain, sending landslides tumbling down, sending them scrambling for cover whenever they heard one. And, to put the literal icing on the cake, while it was warmer than it had been, it wasn't warm _enough_, and where the sleet didn't create more mud, it crafted sheets of ice to slip on.

In a really sad, lousy way, she was kind of glad they only had a rough hundred people to focus on.

Night was falling, and they managed to find a sort of cliff face to shore up against, built a struggling fire as a handful of Pale Skins and thieves went out in search of something for dinner—they were trying to make the food last, and the denizens of Frostmore had long ago learned to make a meal stretch, but this was asking a bit more of them than just idling in a stone building and waiting for the latest storm to pass.

Hannah, Gazim, Solomon, and Ushio were currently huddled over Wilson's now-water-stained map.

"By this estimation, we should be reaching a petrified forest soon," Gazim said, pointing. "We passed through it on the way up—I suggest not camping there overnight."

"Why not?" Hannah had to ask.

"I felt unsettled spirits there."

The rest of them _had_ to stare at him for his odd statement.

"You've got to be kidding me," Ushio said finally, flatly.

"You do not mean to tell me that you don't believe in ghosts?" Gazim asked.

"I do mean to tell you."

"We should go around," Solomon suggested.

"We're having a hard enough time going _straight_ down."

"Hey! _Hey!"_ Hannah yelled, getting their attention back to her. That done, she pointed at what looked like a bridge of ice. "It may take more than a few days—I think his landmarks are melting."

Gazim shrugged. "Downhill still seems like the most tenable option at this point."

"Pity we can't just go sliding down it," Hannah said.

"I'm sure we could find a few guys stupid enough to try it," Ushio offered.

And then someone—or some_thing_—screamed.

Everyone clustered together tighter—_that_ was not good.

"Everyone for running away now say 'aye,'" Pegasus said, he and Cecelia clinging tightly to each other.

"You _want_ to go running down a muddy, icy slope in the middle of the night?" Cecelia asked him incredulously.

"I second that emotion," Hannah said, holding the map up. "According to this, there's a gorge somewhere up ahead—either that, or it was formed by ice and snow, and _it_ melted too. Which still leaves us with unfavorable ground."

Pegasus sagged. "I hate moving," he sighed.

"And the rest of us just think it's a bundle of joy," Ushio snapped.

"Anyone who fights tonight has to camp out in the dark," Hannah said quickly—which arrested any and all arguments that they could have formulated.

And then their hunting party came back, minus one and with one having to be supported by another.

"_That's_ not good," Pegasus observed.

Hannah resisted the impulse to slap him, instead running over with Gazim and Ushio to see what happened. She realized she recognized the injured one—how could she not, what with living in close quarters for years? Jaremy, several years younger than her and cradling a severely injured arm—like something had messily taken a bite out of it.

"What happened?" Gazim asked.

The two thieves looked at each other, one still supporting Jaremy, the other holding a bloody scimitar and some dripping bundle.

"Where's Burtrum?" Hannah asked, although she suspected she already knew the answer.

Jaremy was struggling to say something, stammering on the 's' at the beginning. The thief supporting him—was it Akhmed? She couldn't remember—glanced at him, then at her.

"Something got him," he supplied. "It—we thought it was a person first."

"It was a person," the other thief said—Hannah recognized the gruff voice of Saluk. "At one point, at least. Now…."

He held up the dripping bundle so the firelight caught it—it was a piece of fabric tied around….

Ragged feathers, sightless dead eyes, distending mouth held shut by the fabric.

A Screecher head.

She had long wondered why women were always portrayed as covering their mouths when they were in shock. Now, doing the same thing, she had an inkling—it was an attempt to keep from throwing up on the spot.

"We got it while it was...distracted," Saluk said, with a sidelong, sympathetic glance at Jaremy.

"You didn't—get any _on_ you, did you?" she asked, remembering what had been said about Screecher blood and spittle—

And then she remembered Jaremy—she looked at him now. He looked at her with glassy eyes, horror and pain competing for dominance over the shock, and a sickening revelation dawning over all that.

Ushio knew it too, gently took him by the uninjured arm. "I'll take care of it," he said quietly.

She looked at him. "Make sure he goes out on a high note," she said, glancing up.

Ushio nodded, and he and Jaremy left, the latter not struggling.

"Is that necessary?" Gazim asked.

"Unfortunately," Hannah said.

"He might yet live."

"Gazim…remember what I told you."

Gazim bowed his head.

Hannah did also, quietly asking benediction for Jaremy until she heard the shot. When she did, she looked to Saluk and the other thieves, also with heads dipped.

"Take that," she said, indicating the severed head. "And anything it might have touched, and burn it as far away from here as possible. Put it on a pyre downwind, light it, and then get away." Deep shuddering breath. "And do the same to Jaremy too."

They inclined their heads further, and then went to do so. Hannah sagged, was caught by Gazim, turned and hugged him as Ushio came back.

There was one comfort, at least.

At least Yugi didn't have to see that.

And she hoped he was doing all right, wherever he was.


	110. Beartopsy and Examinations

**Chapter 110, everybody! In which Wilson and Rae have meaningful discourse and Yugi dies…of embarrassment. Didn't I say this chapter would be lighter?**

**The author Rae is quoting is Arthur C. Clarke, who I mentioned in a review response earlier in the story—"spared no expense!"**

**Hydrophobia, by the by, is the fancy term for rabies****—apparently, as the disease progresses, those afflicted develop an intense hate of water. Beartopsy, however, is _not_ a real word, and is rather a portmanteau of "bear" and "autopsy" (just so you know).**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, how did that happen?...Maybe because we were too busy with killer bears?...Yes….It'll show up eventually, I'm sure, and it probably would have shown up this chapter if I had written it right after thinking of it, but I didn't, so it'll show up later. Precisely! And yes indeed—although I ****_did_**** use TV Tropes in one of my stories to distract an advanced AI….I think I was trying to verb the word—failed, obviously ("Verbing weirds language"—another Calvin tidbit there). I had a health teacher mention isometrics too, but I'm not sure if that'd help….You must look—they're there. Especially if you have something similar to what we have as far as county and state parks and recreation (they have calligraphy at times). Failing that, maybe a college course (it would have been one of my classes, had I stayed on at my first college). Wonderful! Except for the wrist-pain, but you'll get through it (most likely). I'll have to check it out—as soon as I get my #900 deviation finished up (and I have to hurry too, before this Tuesday :O).**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Too true, too true—which reminds me, I have an art thing to finish….Yes! No! Screechers are ****_bad!_**** Just look at poor Jaremy! D: Yes, alas, minor characters, doomed to be cautionary tales so the main characters survive (although let's be honest, stories where the main characters die are never fun). Yes! And good question….I get the feeling they're related somehow….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Skulduggery Pleasant © 2007 Derek Landy (Wilson sort of paraphrases Skulduggery here)**

Yami was loping and ranging all around the camp, frolicking in the falling snow. Just flurries for now, but he said it would strengthen as time went on.

In the meantime, Yugi's clothes had finally thawed out and dried, and despite Wilson's dire predictions, Yugi did _not_ in fact die in the past three days—and, Wilson supposed, barring accidents or his time suddenly coming, would not die in the foreseeable future.

Yugi, for one, was grateful. He might be going to a better place when he did, but he most certainly did _not_ like the process of _getting_ there. Especially when it was something besides going peacefully in his old age.

Although he had to wonder if dying of embarrassment was a real thing.

If it was, he was planning on avoiding it if possible.

Wilson, at least, kept his gentlemanly opinions of the matter, chasing everyone else away and then holding a blanket around Yugi like a curtain, foot holding down a spot on the bottom so there was a corner Yugi could huddle in as he clothed himself, with the gentleman scientist decidedly examining a cloud over behind his shoulder and occasionally scolding Willow if she did anything but hand Yugi his clothes around the blanket or the bush in front of him.

"I wonder if there's bush-versions of Lief," Willow posed as she handed his shirt around.

_"Not_ funny," Yugi scolded, pulling his first shirt on as quickly as possible—Wilson had cycled a few out, but Yugi was _not_ going to wear anything close to his skin that he wasn't already used to. He didn't like the idea of having scratchy clothes bugging him all day.

"Okay," Yugi declared. "I'm somewhat decent."

"That remains to be seen," Wilson said drily.

"I've got clothes on then—how's that?"

"Fair enough," Wilson said, dropping the blanket and rolling his shoulders—Yugi had figured it was getting heavy. "Now hurry up and get the rest of those layers on before you freeze."

And with that, he went off to see how the fire was doing, while Willow handed Yugi the rest of his clothes, one article at a time.

"Can I have the pants and socks first?" Yugi asked—he was standing on a folded blanket in the snow, and he was in desperate need of his boots.

"Sure," Willow said, looking devious as she handed the requested articles over.

Yugi pointed at her. "Not. One. Word."

"Right," she said, allowing him to pull a pair of socks on, a thicker pair of long johns over the first, and then pulling socks on over that. "I noticed things shrink in cold water, though."

Yugi rolled and buried his burning face in the snow.

* * *

Wilson waited until Joey and Tristan returned before setting off, with the admonition that nothing untoward happen while he was gone. Whether that would be the case remained to be seen, but he felt he had to say it, at least.

He was perhaps halfway up the slope when he heard someone fall into step next to him. He looked to see Rae next to him, shotgun held at half-ready.

"Do I have an entourage now?" he asked her.

"Hey, you don't want to find out the hard way that these things had buddies," she pointed out. "Besides, I figure you could use the company."

Wilson preferred his own company, to be honest. But, he had to admit, he liked having someone with him—at the very least, to watch his back as he did what he intended to do.

It didn't take too long to find the remains of that first bear, the one with the blown-out head courtesy of Rae. Scavengers had yet to touch it, something that Wilson found exceedingly odd—three days, and yet it was still untouched, he noted as he circled it, taking even and deliberate paces as he made his cursory observations.

Most bears, from accounts he had heard, were large, yes. But even the most hyperbolic anecdote he had heard had not accounted for one of this size. It was massive—how had two of them ever snuck up on their party? And those brutal claws, each one longer than one of Wilson's limbs—in a word, _yikes._

Again, he was prompted to think of a badger when examining the head and the thick fur, even though this thing was most definitely a bear. He made note of the oddity in his sketches, made a diagram on one of his freshly-made pages before kneeling before the head, using a stick to lift a lip to examine the teeth. Yes, those would have definitely hurt.

Face definitely had the structure of a bear, as did the rest of the body. Fur was remarkably thick, he noted, seizing a handful of the ruff. Could be good for insulation, if he were to be bothered with skinning even a portion of it.

And yet….

"Any reason you're giving the thing the once-over?" Rae asked. "I'm fairly certain it's still dead."

"It is," Wilson said, releasing the ruff and returning to his notes. "Odd, isn't it, that nothing's come along to eat it yet?"

He didn't look to her, still busy writing in his notes, but her hesitation said much.

"How well does scent travel in cold air?" she asked finally.

"I would think rather well," he returned, pulling an eyelid on the bear down. Dead, sunken eyes, with not a trace of the sickly green he had seen. "Which makes me wonder—other animals can smell sick on a creature; perhaps that's what was wrong with this one and the other."

Silence again as Rae pondered this. Wilson moved on to the nostrils, the lips…maybe they suffered from hydrophobia….Except that wouldn't explain the green eyes.

"That might explain why nothing's bothered with it," she said, considering. "But it doesn't explain why two of them were travelling together."

"No, it doesn't," Wilson agreed, standing and scratching his head. "And I note that our Frost King forwent his usual nature-communing for a full-on assault."

"I noticed that too," Rae said, coming up beside him, examining the corpse.

After a long silence, she continued. "You're thinking about something."

"I'm always thinking about something, Miss Rae," Wilson countered, putting his hand to his jaw now and leaning on it. "I'm a scientist—it's what I do."

"Yes, but this is more than your usual nerdness."

How concerning, that apparently he was that easy to read. "Is that even a word?"

"It should be. You know what—it is. I say it's a word."

"You can't just make up a new word—"

"I'm a Bradbury-Orwell—as far as you know, it _is_ a real word, you just never heard of it."

"I call you out and say you made that up."

"I want to know what it is you're thinking."

"I'm thinking that _nerdness_ is not a word, and should not _be_ one."

"Get over it already."

Wilson heaved a sigh, scanned the area, not really seeing it.

"How very, very strange," he mused. "That such a thing were to happen as we went to Yami's mountain. If I didn't know any better, I'd say someone were trying to bar our way. At the very least, we were delayed."

Rae examined him carefully. "And you think they sent rabid bears to attack us?"

"I don't know what to think," Wilson admitted, crossing his arms—he was getting a little chilly now, just standing there. "We're talking about things that are nonsensical at best—either there's some deeper mystery here…or this requires that we believe in magic, which is ridiculous—"

"Offensive to your delicate sensibilities?" Rae enquired.

"You're not funny."

"We're travelling with a guy with a mystical dowsing device, and another guy…deer…_thing_ that froze a lake upon contact and can apparently travel through ice. I'm willing to go out on a limb here and say magic exists."

Wilson scowled at that, crossing his arms tighter.

"Oh, I _have_ offended your delicate sensibilities," Rae noted, scuffing at the snow and then stamping her feet. He tried to ignore her, attempting to better parse through his conflicting thoughts and order them into something manageable. He had some writing to do tonight.

"There is an author," she said suddenly. "Who stated that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

He looked at her. "So…what, you're saying we're dealing with an advanced opponent?"

"I'm saying that maybe magic isn't as offensive to your sensibilities as you might think." She shuddered. "But I'm getting cold. What say you to continuing this discussion over some hot chocolate?"

He wondered how much she had left—he had missed hot chocolate, and would dearly miss it again when it was gone. Ah, the hardships of life in the mountains.

With a pang, he recalled the situation in Frostmore—feeling poorly for himself for not having hot chocolate soon, when the village hadn't had the luxury of regular meals in years.

He shook his head, turned, indicated that she follow. "Yes, Miss Rae, that sounds fine."

With that, they headed back to camp in somewhat companionable silence.

And yet Wilson couldn't still those quiet, niggling doubts.


	111. On Naming Mountains

**Chapter 111, everybody! Nice number—and one that was done before Tuesday, even….A little short and slow, but we needed to get moving again. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! I'm thinking that Word doesn't know as much as it thinks it does….Yes….I'm of the opinion that Chinese ****_looks_**** harder than English, but I suppose English has enough snarls to be problematic on its own (speaking it all my life, and I ****_still_**** screw it up)….Bummer…something will turn up, I'm sure—a YouTube video or online course, or something….I peeked at it anyway—and huzzah! Deviation #900 is up! :D As is Deviation #901, since it's Tuesday….Yup, 900 already—which gives me an average of about 200 uploads a year so far…I'm not sure if that's impressive or not….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! I think what Willow saw was an opportunity, and she decided to take advantage of it. :D Heheh, I was laughing when I wrote it, so it's good to hear it's funny. :D Yes, me too…****_someone_**** needs to know what's going on in this….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Skulduggery Pleasant © 2007 Derek Landy ("I need constant distraction")**

**Toy Story ****© 1995 Pixar ("I hope this isn't permanent")**

The night was spent eating and sleeping and building their strength up, although the last thing Yugi noted before falling asleep next to Willow was Wilson sitting up still, scribbling in his notes with his usual _I'm thinking very deeply_ scowl on his face.

He still had that scowl on his face when he rousted them the next morning.

"All right," Wilson declared as they ate a warm breakfast. "So, as near as we can deduce from the area, those bears—"

"Beargers," Willow interrupted, prompting Wilson to scowl at her.

"Fine—_beargers_," Wilson continued. "May have been the only ones of their sort in the area, and quite possibly drove all other major predators away. I say we press on and take advantage of that, before it comes to the attention of said major predators that their main competition is gone."

"And because you're bored out of your skull," Yugi guessed.

"I do need constant distraction," Wilson admitted. "But we've wasted enough time here. We need to press on, and _this time,_ I'd like to be out of the valley before nightfall."

Understandable, Yugi guessed.

Which was why Yugi and Willow were soon putting the repaired harness on Yami, a tad easier now that he lacked one antler.

"You look funny without both antlers," Yugi told him.

Yami pouted as he rolled his eyes up, considering the empty space above where his antler used to curve. "I hope this isn't permanent," Yami whined.

"I'm sure it'll grow back eventually," Willow said reassuringly. "In the meantime, we still love you, in all your lopsided glory."

"It adds character," Yugi added.

Yami tipped his head, considering, the action made exaggerated by the odd weight distribution on his head now.

"I suppose I could get used to it," Yami said finally.

"Great!" Willow said, rubbing her hands together to return the warmth to them. "Then let's go!"

* * *

Wilson was right, it _was_ oddly quiet in the area.

On the positive side, they made good time, and were on the upslope of Yami's mountain before nightfall. Yami found a nice ledge for them to camp on, then walked over to the nearest pine tree as soon as he was unharnessed.

"He's going to know every single one of Lief's cousins before this is all over," Willow observed.

"Those poor trees," Yugi agreed.

Wilson, meanwhile, had returned to his notes after ensuring that camp was properly made up and something edible was being cooked. Yugi came around behind him to see what he was writing.

"Warm enough?" Wilson asked, somehow detecting him even without turning around.

"Yeah," Yugi said—just like the last forty times today that Wilson had asked, or Willow, or Teana. He was starting to get really sick of the question, even though he knew where it was coming from. "So what are you working on?" Yugi asked, hoping to deflect further questions. "A map?"

"It seems sensible, considering we may very well be the first ones to set foot in this area," Wilson said, continuing his sketching. It was on a much larger piece of paper, and the bare bones of a map were evident on it.

"What about that theory you don't want to talk about?"

"If that's the case, then hopefully we'll be the first ones to set foot in this area and come back _alive_."

Ouch. Well…here was hoping they _would…_.And here was wondering what happened to those who came here before.

Willow had come up behind them and was now looking over Wilson's other shoulder. "You should call this one Yami's Mountain," she said, pointing to a triangle that had to represent the mountain they were currently on.

Yugi nodded assent. "It fits," he agreed.

"So I'm simply the cartographer, am I to understand this correctly?" Wilson asked, sounding a bit tetchy.

"What else would you call it?"

"Frost King Mountain. Frost Heights. The Frozen Peak. Higgsbury Mountain. The list is endless."

"'Higgsbury Mountain'?" Willow echoed.

"Yes, well, scientific tradition states that I name _something_ after myself…."

"I don't know," Yugi said. "I don't think 'Higgsbury' goes well on a mountain."

"I didn't say it was a _good_ list."

"What are you doing?" Rae asked.

"We're naming the mountain," Yugi said.

"Yami's Mountain," Willow said. "Has a nice ring, don't you think?"

"It's what I've been calling it," Rae said.

"Please, Miss Rae, don't encourage them," Wilson cautioned.

"Why not?" Willow asked. "We're impressionable young minds—we _need_ to be encouraged."

"Judging by the way you're gaming the system, you're no longer young enough minds to be needing this sort of encouragement."

"What are we talking about?" Joey asked, returning with Tristan and armloads of deadfall.

"We're calling it Yami's Mountain," Willow declared, indicating the mountain.

Yami stopped next to them. "I have my own mountain?" he asked.

"Now look what you've started," Wilson sighed.

A few minutes later, the tree had to agree, fleeing down the slope as fast as its limbs could take it.


	112. The Summit

**Chapter 112, everyone! In which the fourth wall is leaned on….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, now he has assymetry….It probably will—and no, nothing drastic like that (he has wolf-ears separate from his antlers). If anything, he might be lacking one of his lightning-bolt bangs when/if he changes. Yes, I thought so too. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes—Wilson will get his mountain sometime! Science demands it! :D Yes…writing any stories has become quite hilarious for me, as the only names Spellcheck _doesn't_ seem to have issues with are "Glint" and "Wilson"—but not "Higgsbury"****….****I've had to start adding the names to my copy of Word's dictionary because I got tired of squiggly red lines (ah, that reminds me of Autocorrect's suggestions for the _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ cast—yes, let's hear a round of applause for 'Yam'!). Yes—from insanely-sized alphabets to gendered words to inconsistent grammar rules (and words—my personal favorite: is it 'shined' or 'shone'?). And then pronouncing words phonetically, which causes some odd looks….Well, practice makes perfect! All right! :D Eh, you'll pick up eventually—most of my 900 were from the past couple of years; my first couple of years on DeviantArt had maybe one upload a month. :\**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Again, going _up_ a mountain was nowhere near as fun as going down one.

The next couple of days saw them zigzagging along the mountain, slowly and steadily getting closer and closer to the top. Yugi was practically thrumming with excitement as they neared the summit. He knew, sure as sure, that something, some answer to their quest, lay just ahead.

Which made Wilson's announcement that night most decidedly unwelcome.

_"Split up?"_ Willow asked, aghast. "With—with owl-monster-things and evil beargers running around?"

"And it didn't work all that well _last_ time besides!" Joey added.

"Firstly," Wilson countered, in his ever-calm gentleman scientist fashion. "The error in our splitting up the first time was partially the fault of a few very hot-headed young men, who shall remain unnamed, but they know who they are, and should sit down now before I _make_ them sit down."

Yugi wasn't entirely certain what Wilson could do to _make_ Joey or Tristan sit down, and apparently, neither did they. But Wilson's expression brooked no argument, so they sat.

"Thank you," Wilson said primly. "Now. Yes, I understand the concerns involved with splitting up—past history, rampant clichés, every horror story ever written, etcetera, et al….However, I'd also like to point out that a smaller party can move faster, that the top of a mountain is incredibly inhospitable, and that we have composing our group a selection that should _not_ expose themselves to such dangers."

Yugi wasn't entirely certain Wilson was referring to Serenity, with her weak constitution, or Teana, with her thin blood. He wasn't looking at anyone specifically, but Yugi had the feeling Wilson had included Yugi in that selection. He tried very hard not to steam at the thought.

"So who _is_ going, pray tell?" Willow asked, also steaming. Yugi was surprised the snow didn't melt around her.

"Myself, Yami," Wilson said, pointing at himself and then Yami. "And Bakura."

"Yes, he's expendable," Rae said with glee.

"What?" Bakura asked flatly.

"We'll go up, see what there is to see, and come back down," Wilson continued, ignoring Bakura's spluttering. "This shouldn't take too long—_if we're not followed,_" he added, looking pointedly at Joey and Tristan.

"Whatever," Joey muttered.

"That's settled then," Wilson said, clapping his hands together behind his back and rocking on his heels—a sign that he was hoping for proper experimentation without a hitch. "We'll leave in the morning. Rae will be in charge while we're gone, and she _will_ shoot you this time."

She bared her teeth in a grin when she looked at them.

"This is it, isn't it?" Bakura asked. "You're going to go kill me where there's no witnesses."

"Don't tempt me," Wilson sighed.

* * *

They left early the next morning, further cementing Bakura's opinion that they were trying to take him off and kill him, then dispose of his body by flinging it off a mountain. And as the Frost King would probably freeze him, he'd shatter on impact and his remains would never be found nor identified.

It was really becoming an attractive option.

But Wilson sighed, rolled his eyes, and forced himself to continue on, ignoring both Bakura's griping and Yami's bounding about. At least he had convinced Yami that Yugi was perfectly fine and safe with Rae—she blew the brains out of a bear, for goodness' sake! So now the Frost King was relishing this new adventure with his friends—which Wilson found a little odd. Apparently, Yami had made his own peace with Bakura, and while the thief wasn't _friendly_ towards Yami by any means, he had become a lot less hostile.

Wilson decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and take what respites he could get.

Yami did, however, argue for Yugi and Willow, saying it was their idea to come here they should see it….Wilson gave up arguing after about an hour, figuring his breath was better spent climbing. Fortunately, Bakura's breath was also better spent climbing, and after a while, the thief's numerous complaints subsided. When they paused for a brief lunch, the complaints did not resume.

Wilson could see it—Bakura was intrigued about what they would find as well.

Lunch break wasn't long—Wilson wanted to get up to the summit before midafternoon. Even allotting for the downslope being easier, he didn't want to risk running around in the dark, and he knew the summit would be absolutely bitter even during the day.

And while splitting up was a bad idea, camping separately would be insanity.

"Come on!" Yami called suddenly. "You're almost there!"

_That_ provided a much-needed second wind—Wilson tugged on the rope tying him to Bakura (a few near-slips had assured the thief of the necessity), and they hastened as fast as they were able.

The setting sun cut straight through them as they left the shadow of the summit for the peak. Brilliant orange, red, and yellow, reflecting off the snow and ice and making a brilliant and dazzling scene. Wilson wished he had sunglasses, but settled for remaining rooted to the spot—stumbling about blind would be the fastest way to fall off the mountain, and wouldn't _that_ be embarrassing.

In about the time it took for the wind to slice straight through them and chill them to the bone, their eyes adjusted, allowing them to walk up to where Yami was perched, all but spinning in a circle in an attempt to see everything.

"Isn't this great?" Yami asked, apparently oblivious to their discomfort. "You can see everything from up here! Except Frostmore—I don't see Frostmore. Or the beach, with all that _sand_, but I'm not complaining—"

Wilson looked to Bakura, indicated that he might as well get started while Yami continued to prattle on. Bakura fished out the Millennium Ring, held it flat in his hand, and closed his eyes.

"It's doing something," Wilson declared after a few moments of watching it intently.

Bakura opened his eyes and looked at the Item, then at Yami, still prattling away. "I'm guessing I should have asked for the Crown Prince, not _Yami_."

"Try again," Wilson ordered. Bakura did so, but ended up frowning at the end of his attempt.

"I'm not sure, because it's not like it…_talks_…with _words_…but I think it just called me an idiot."

"I don't believe for a moment that a chunk of gold has sentience, but on the off chance such a thing is true: that is one smart piece of gold."

Bakura cocked his fist, glanced at Yami, decided against punching Wilson, instead frowning down at the Ring again.

"Now what?" Wilson asked.

"Now it's making _no_ sense—something about _the readers figured this out back in chapter eighteen, what's wrong with you?"_

"Perhaps my previous theorizations on those things causing insanity have merit."

"Uh-_huh,"_ Bakura noised, shaking the Ring up and down, as though he'd jostle a better answer out of it. Wilson highly doubted it. As it were, Bakura apparently only succeeded in jabbing himself with one of the Ring's prongs—his yelp of pain prompted Yami to look over.

"It's nothing," Wilson said, waving him off. "I don't suppose _you_ have anything to contribute to the conversation, do you?" Wilson had to admit, getting to the bottom of this Frost King mystery was _very_ appealing.

Yami folded an ear back. "Weren't you _listening_?" he asked.

"You were commenting on the view and how different the snow is up here and _oh dear I wish it were night we'd be able to see the Aurora Borealis—"_

"The what?"

"What you call the Northern Lights—Aurora Borealis is the proper term for them."

Yami made an illuminated noise at that. "Moving on," Wilson said, making a waffling motion with his hand. "You said you woke up here, is that correct?" Yami nodded. "Perhaps you can tell us about the events surrounding the occasion."

Yami cocked his head. "I woke up…right here," he said, moving about and sitting on a rock that was barely jutting out of the snow.

"And?"

"And the Northern Lights—Aurora Borealis—looked really pretty, and there was a lot to see, so I went off to look at this one moving, flickering orange spot that way—"

Wilson looked to where he indicated—east, to Frostmore. Perhaps Ushio's party. "And?" he asked, as Bakura picked up the Millennium Ring from where he had dropped it into the snow.

"And then I run into these guys who aren't really all that friendly, they make this really loud _bang_ noise—"

"Let me stop you there," Wilson said; he knew where this part of the story went, and it wasn't what he had been wanting to hear. "What about _right here_—how did you get to be _right here_? The _first_ time," he clarified, sensing that the answer was to be _we walked up here._

"I woke up here," Yami said, looking like he thought Wilson was losing it. Wilson personally thought his brain might actually be freezing up here.

"All right," Wilson moaned, rubbing his forehead and glancing at Bakura; the thief was apparently trying a different tack, one that _didn't_ end with him being maybe-insulted by a supposedly sentient piece of precious metal. "How about this: lay down on that rock you said you woke up on, close your eyes, and just think about that time." _And please hurry,_ he silently added, shivering violently now—note to self, standing motionless on a mountain peak did _nothing_ to warm a person.

Yami did so. Wilson held out for as long as he could, which wasn't all that long.

"Well?" he asked.

"Not…maybe," Yami muttered. "There's…no, sorry. Maybe a green flash of light, but that might have been the Aurora Borealis."

"How m-m-maddeningly unhelpful," Wilson chattered, before looking to Bakura. "I d-d-don't suppose _you_ have s-s-something."

"S-s-something m-much better this t-t-time around," Bakura said, shivering equally as violently. "The Millennium Puzzle."

Wilson perked up at that. "Where?"

"That m-m-mountain over there."

Yami looked to where Bakura was trying to point. "You don't want to go to that mountain," he said. "There's big toothy things over there."

"N-n-news flash: there were big t-t-toothy things on _this_ mountain, too," Wilson said.

Bakura looked at him oddly. "You've been hanging around t-that Rae girl an awful lot, haven't you?"

"It's p-preferable to hanging around _you—"_

Things stopped as a sharp noise made its way to them. Yami swiveled an ear, Wilson tipped his head—

They heard it again—a sound that Wilson and Rae had agreed on in case of emergency.

"That's Rae whistling," Wilson said.

"Wow," Bakura noised; they had stopped shaking now, Wilson noted—a very bad sign.

Wilson nodded. "We need to get back down there, and _fast_."


	113. Echoes of Trouble

**Chapter 113, everybody! Which I had written ahead of time—success. :D**

**For the record, there are quite a few accepted spellings of the word "capiche," which does indeed mean "do you understand?" in Italian (****_"Capisci"_**** is apparently the proper Italian word), although the most popular spelling is one Word doesn't recognize. Stupid program….In other news, I was under the impression that Wilson quotes the game ****_Braid _****in this chapter, which he apparently does, but according to TV Tropes, the phrase actually originates in the first ****_Super Mario Bros._**** game. Go figure.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, it is—on the flip side, that's a lot of Picasso jokes missed, but I don't think that'll be a big deal. Yeah, just a bit, but I think Wilson is more concerned with what Yugi's mother would do to him if something happened to Yugi. Granted, Yugi ****_could_**** have gotten more out of Yami, but….Probably, good question, and maybe. :) And yes, that probably is a bad sign….She ****_is_**** independent, isn't she?...**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Hahaha, most excellent! Yes, the Millennium Ring, the best tertiary character you never realized _was_ a tertiary character! :D Yes, Wilson deserves to have _something_ named after him…a _rock_, even….This is true. Yes, but it helps when the shift key sticks and we end up with things like WIllow and WIlson (so when we get "THanos" we can catch it—hold it, why does the spellchecker on FanFiction recognize Thanos? :O). And true….And also true—and then we have words that we've always used one way, and then we look them up (this week's featured word: fob, which I thought meant to pass off on someone else, but apparently archaically means to cheat, from what I've read—and is also what you call that bitty pocket on the right side of your jeans). Ah, don't sweat it—just keep drawing, just keep drawing (and tell yourself this in Ellen DeGeneres' voice so it sticks****—wait, why does the spellchecker recognize "DeGeneres"?****).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Only a quick intervention prevented Yami from barreling away without them. And after a moment, and upon discovery that the rock they were on was easily fracture-able slate, they had hooked the rope on Yami's remaining antler and were off, Wilson and Bakura precariously balanced on large pieces of slate now acting as sleds, hanging onto the rope for dear life.

It wasn't exactly what one would call _fun_.

On the positive side, they made it down the slope and to the camp in record time, just in time for another one of Rae's earsplitting whistles—two-fingered, like Wilson would do. Impressive.

"What happened?" Yami asked upon arrival. "Is everyone all right?"

Wilson settled for falling sideways and attempting to unknot his rope—his hands weren't wanting to cooperate. Apparently, being frozen on top of injured wasn't good for them. And joy, there was Willow and Yugi, peppering him with questions: _what happened, was there anything up there, what did you see_—

And then Rae was hauling him up.

"Come on," she said, dragging him to the fire. "You look like a Wilson-sicle."

"I feel like one," Wilson said, noting that Teana was similarly herding Bakura over as well. "What's the emergency?"

"I'll let you know if I hear it again," Rae said, readying her shotgun. Not a good sign, Wilson reflected.

Yugi was at his elbow. "I reserve the right to ask you if you're all right fifty times a day," he informed him.

"Fair enough," Wilson conceded. "And no, nothing happened, we didn't see anything, we didn't find anything, and your princess is at another castle."

_"Huh?"_

"Where did _that_ come from?" Rae asked, smirking.

"I don't rightly remember," Wilson admitted. Some quip he had heard someone else say, but his brain wasn't exactly firing at the moment—his back muscles were tense from the cold, and he could actually _feel_ his blood flowing like liquid ice. "But apparently, the Millennium Puzzle is on that mountain over there," he said, indicating the mountain that Yami didn't want to go to.

"Wonderful," Willow noised, as Serenity threw a blanket on Wilson. Bakura already had one on, and Teana was rubbing him down vigorously—she must have picked up a few tricks from Wilson when Yugi had taken his dunking. "Another mountain to go up."

Wilson was of a similar opinion. "What do you think of the Higgsbury Range as the area's name?" he asked Rae. Considering he was apparently doomed to go up and down every single mountain _in_ the range, he felt it would be justified.

"I think only if you sprout antlers," Rae told him.

"I feel like I should."

Yami came over to investigate. "Shoo," Wilson informed him. Yami looked down at Wilson's feet. "No, not _shoe_," Wilson scolded, stamping his feet in an attempt to warm up. Ow, pain—good sign, though. Pain meant he was warming up. Pain meant no hypothermia. No hypothermia meant no frostbite, which meant no lost appendages. Okay, brain, start having some higher reasoning….

And then everyone looked up at a weird, echoing sound.

"There it is," Rae said, flicking the safety off on her shotgun. "I've been hearing it on and off for about an hour now."

"Rae says it's a Screecher," Willow said.

Rae was most likely right. "How close would you estimate it to be?" Wilson asked.

"I have no idea," Rae admitted. "The way this range is, it could be on that other mountain, or it could be heading up the slope straight for us."

Yami was now at the edge of the plateau, looking down, fur bristling, scanning the area.

"It's not close," he declared, turning to face them. "You can warm up first."

Well, that was good to know. Wilson increased his endeavors, rubbing his arms vigorously.

"We can't stay here, can we?" Tristan asked. "Not with that thing so close."

"It _might_ be close," Joey argued.

Wilson massaged his temples. This was not good.

Someone was rubbing his arm. He looked to see Yugi doing so, watching him with concern. Oh, right….

"Yami," Wilson said carefully. "What are the chances of it coming up here tonight?"

Yami paced the edge of the plateau again before sitting down. "Not likely."

"All right then," Wilson sighed. "I suppose we're going to have to take those chances," he declared, looking up. "We can't go wandering around in the dark—it'd be suicide."

"I'm not all that fond of staying put either," Rae pointed out. "But…we need to get you two warmed up, at least."

"That _would_ be nice," Wilson said, trying hard not to grimace. Okay, ice blood—while scientifically interesting—was _not_ pleasant.

Rae nodded briskly before moving through the camp. "Joey, Tristan: get those weapons ready and _keep_ them ready. I want to be able to point and you shoot in that direction, no ifs, ands, or buts. Yami, keep those ears open—if _anything_ comes within fifty feet of us, I want you to tell us, capiche?"

"Uh, yes?" Yami noised. "What's capiche?"

"It's another word for understand."

"Oh, okay! I capiche."

"That's not how you use that word," she told him, circling back to the fire. "Willow, you and Serenity keep that fire going. And you two," she said, looking at Bakura and Wilson. "Want some hot chocolate?"

Wilson was shivering now, properly appreciating just how _cold_ he was.

"I w-would _love_ that," he told her.

"Marvelous—let's get started then."


	114. Avalanche

**Chapter 114, everyone! The moment you've all been waiting for….And a chapter that was written ahead, too….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, it does—and yes, skis might be safer than pieces of slate and a runaway Frost King. Eh, if they were surrounded, Rae might have been screaming rather than whistling. Maybe…and good question….Haha, yes. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Ah, bummer. 1) See how he is? 2) Yes indeedy—hot chocolate fixes everything. :D No worries—I just spent the entire day cleaning up the yard because this has been the first decently warm day in _ages_. Good question….Pffft—haha, yes! Presenting Yami's Mountain, Lief's Forest, Rae's Trail, and Higgsbury's Rock—please, don't trip over the last one. Yes; the joy of my current keyboard is that the keys get stuck on a regular basis—so I'll be typing along and then all of a sudden _eeeeeeeee_. I don't know—either it works off of my copy of Word, or it's thinking of the Marvel character (fun fact: I named Thanos after the Roman entity Thanatos—a few months later, once I couldn't really assign a different name to him, I discover there's a Marvel villain called Thanos. Cue head-slap). Me neither—we've been using words wrong all this time (and the fun part of technically making up words—"Unaccosted," for example, isn't recognized by Word, but I use it anyway). Ooh, I ought to have Wilson use that one****….****Yes, keep at it—well, that's good then, since Dory is in fact voiced by Ellen DeGeneres. :)**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The night was nerve-wracking, but Yami was right—they remained unaccosted throughout the night.

Wilson wasted no time in booting their rears in gear and getting everyone on the sled. Rae, meanwhile, made sure to tie Wilson to the sled, as his hands hadn't quite healed just yet. Teana, meanwhile, made sure Bakura was properly secured as well.

"I'd like to be able to run if need be," Bakura pointed out.

"You'll get over it," Teana told him.

Yugi personally hoped that there wouldn't be a _need_ to run. The Screecher had quieted near dawn, but its proximity was still nerve-wracking.

"You're making a Wilson-face," Willow said, helping him harness Yami.

"What's a Wilson-face look like?" Yugi had to ask—he had a mental image of suddenly having Wilson's sharp nose and chin, or maybe of Wilson having Yugi's hair—granted, the only differences would be the lightning bolt bangs and the colored tips, but still.

"You're making this face," she clarified, pointing at her face and performing a passable imitation of Wilson's scowl.

"I'm hoping we don't get eaten."

"Well, _duh—"_

"If you two are quite done arguing!" Wilson called up, tethered as he was to the sled.

Yugi and Willow ran to the sled, barely getting settled in as Yami took off.

"Off to the mountain full of sharp teeth, then," Wilson called, sounding resigned.

Yugi hoped the tone wasn't called for.

* * *

_Down_ was so much simpler than _up_. With _down,_ gravity was with them.

They were in a flat-bottomed valley nestled between the larger peak of the mountain and a smaller spur, with some of them walking for the moment as they ate lunch—they weren't _stopping_, but at least they were allowed to stretch their legs.

And then Yami stopped, tipping his head at what looked like a cave opening ahead of them, branching away from the clearer path.

Yugi ground to a halt next to him. "That's not a bearger cave, is it?" he asked.

"No," Yami said, considering it. "I…think it might be a shortcut. It feels a little safer."

"A shortcut?" Joey asked, looking at it.

"Yeah—that's when you take a shorter way because—"

_"I know what it means."_

"What makes you think it's a shortcut?" Yugi asked.

"It feels shorter," Yami replied.

Yugi turned to the rest of the sled and shrugged, indicating Yami. Wilson, still lashed to the sled handles and leaning on them in aggravated fashion, gave two short gestures: _what can you do_ and _come here_.

Yugi looked at Willow; they exchanged shrugs and headed to the back of the sled.

He was about even with Bakura, all bundled up under a pile of blankets and retaining his perpetual disgruntled look, when he spotted someone behind them. He leaned to see better, wondering who was lagging behind—

And then he and the figure locked eyes—

Willow was right—monsters had no business loitering around in the broad daylight. In the crisp, cold air, it was perfectly easy to see the parchment paper skin stretched over the bony frame, every single bedraggled and ragged feather, the sharp cruel beak, the dead eyes—

_It hunts those who stare._

_Never lock eyes with a Screecher._

Oh no.

Yugi's brain may have stopped firing completely, but his horror must have been evident on his face—Wilson and Rae frowned, turned—

Just in time for the Screecher's maw to open horribly, big enough to swallow Yugi's head whole, and the absolute _worst_ noise possible ripped out of its throat and straight through Yugi as it lunged forward—

Yami spun around, jerking the sled, Wilson positioned himself as best he could so he was between the Screecher and Rae, everyone screamed, it seemed—

Yugi dove for Willow, sending them both tumbling in the snow as the world rocked with noise again—_BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM—_

The small, repeating _click click click _that filled the sudden echoing silence seemed very, very odd, but Yugi hoped that the silence was a good thing; he glanced back.

Rae had, at some point, swapped her shotgun for her Night Judge, and had apparently emptied it into the Screecher. What was left of it was staining the snow several feet from her. And she was still attempting to fire, face frozen in a rictus of fear, body absolutely locked and rigid. Wilson finally put his hands on her arms and lowered them. She was shaking, Yugi noticed—so was Wilson.

He hadn't given much thought to the poking in his chest, but was forced to come to grips with the sharp tug on his bangs.

"Ow!" he noised, grasping his scalp and turning.

"Off of me," Willow ordered. Yugi rolled off, she sat up, spotted the Screecher, grabbed Yugi and pulled him close. "I changed my mind—hold me."

Yugi did so.

"Well," Wilson said finally, still staring at the Screecher corpse. "That was…."

Whatever Wilson's opinion on the matter was, it was cut off by a rumbling noise. Everyone looked up sharply—

Yami was the first one to identify it.

_"Avalanche!"_

"Everyone on the sled!" Wilson ordered sharply. "Now! _Now! NOW!"_

Everyone piled on—Yugi cracked his skull against Joey's—Yami was bolting away as the first of the chunks of snow rained down—thundering filled the air—

And he ran nowhere but straight into the cave!

_"Yami! No!"_ Yugi hollered—or tried to; his voice was lost in the noise, his very thoughts were—

And then there was nothing but blackness.


	115. The Longest Shortcut

**Chapter 115, everybody! In which we find out if our intrepid explorers survive, and we reference the first ****_Ice Age_**** movie….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes! It finally happened! And our protagonists are ****_not_**** thrilled. D: Yes, blasting things to bits is always the safest option—except when such things trigger an avalanche. Yes it does—our protagonists are forming a band, now. :D Yes, hopefully….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Ice Age © 2002 Carlos Saldanha; Chris Wedge (the shortcut comment)**

**Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc © 2003 Ubisoft (the title of the chapter comes from a level in the game)**

Yugi trembled, gripping the sled—the sled was there, the sled was solid, everyone else had to be here, right?

Except his eyes were open, and there was nothing around him, nothing but the sled beneath him and the sound that might have been his own echoed breath—

And then light leaped to life next to him—

Willow's lighter.

And holding it—_Willow._

Yugi hadn't realized he had been holding his breath, but let it out in a hiss.

"Okay," he heard Rae call. "If you're not here, let me know."

Wilson was more direct in his order. "Willow, hold your lighter up—I want a proper headcount."

Willow obliged, standing on the sled, revealing—Yami, Willow, Yugi (of course), Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Teana, Bakura, Wilson, Rae—everyone. _Oh thank you…._

Rae, meanwhile, checked both her shotgun and her Night Judge before touching her glasses and patting her fedora. "Oh good," she noised, sounding _very_ relieved. "All present and accounted for."

"Your concern for the rest of us is touching," Wilson declared.

"Cheers," she returned, before looking around.

That started everyone looking—Willow stretched farther, trying to illuminate—

Their eyes adjusted enough to see slick walls of ice and rock—

And behind them, a wall of snow.

The avalanche.

They were sealed in.

"Okay," Rae noised, after long moments of having to absorb their situation. "I vote shortcut."

* * *

Wilson called Willow and her lighter over, had her hold it aloft, adjusted her stance slightly so the light was actually illuminating the inside of the pack he was rooting in. Before he had discovered that Screechers were roaming about, he had entertained the idea of travelling through the night to get ahead of the soldiers, when the soldiers were their biggest problem. The discovery of the Screechers had nixed that idea, but he had already had the torches made up, and had kept them around for extra tinder.

Now, he was glad that he _had_ kept them, having Willow light the ends and then handing them off to Joey and Tristan and Bakura (although the latter had been difficult, as he didn't want to get off the sled now that he had "gotten it properly warm finally"—Wilson figured he didn't want them seeing that he was shaking from the encounter). Of the ones that he tried to get _on_ the sled, only Serenity obliged—the others wanted to walk, Teana with Bakura, Willow because she had her lighter, and Yugi because he suspected coddling and resented it.

Wilson didn't really have an argument for the last one—yes, he had been doing that; at the very least, the thought of what Hannah would do if he let her only child die was…well, let's go with _horrifying_—like _I'd much rather face a den of Screechers than bring her that news_ sort of horrifying.

The extra light revealed a deep tunnel, one that snaked away into the darkness. Torchlight illuminated—drip on his head—look up: ice. Ice, ice, and more ice—not a cavern, like he had hoped, but a pocket in the ice formed by snow melting in the sun and refreezing at night. Chances were, there wasn't an exit.

But Yami had said it was a shortcut….

"Well," Wilson declared finally, aware that they were all watching him. "We're not getting anywhere standing around like this. Lead the way, Yami."

Yami nodded, turned, and headed down the tunnel and into the darkness.

* * *

The tunnel was winding, slippery, and just a touch scary.

They had been walking for some time now, enough for the torch Joey was holding to burn down halfway. A glance back showed that the other torches were at the same level. Not good. And the whole affair was beginning to feel _very_ claustrophobic—again, not good. Yugi tried very hard not to feel like he was in a worm stomach, with it slowly narrowing and narrowing….

"How much longer is this going to take?" Yugi asked, resisting the urge to poke Yami in the side—he felt that would only result in a frozen finger.

"Not _too_ much longer," Yami said, dipping and rolling his head slightly, as though trying to demonstrate how much. "It feels like it should open up soon."

Yami wasn't always that clear, but it felt like that was a more confounding answer than usual. Yugi looked at Willow, who looked as concerned as he felt.

"I wonder," Willow murmured, leaning in to whisper direct into Yugi's ear—words tended to bounce in here, and their usual voiceless communications were more difficult in low-light situations. "If his antlers are what let him sense these things—and with him being one short, he can't detect them as well."

_That_ wasn't a good thought.

"I'm doing _fine,"_ Yami said, sounding a little testy—Yugi looked to see that he had one wolf-ear trained on them, despite facing forward. "It's just…I've never been this way before, and there's something…_weird_…about this area."

_That_ wasn't a good thought either.

And then they rounded a small curve to see a pinprick of light ahead.

"Hey, check it out!" Joey declared, pointing. "Finally! A light at the end of the tunnel—I was worried I'd die of boredom before we got out of here."

"Maybe you _did_ die of boredom," Tristan posed. "And it's _that_ light at the end of the tunnel."

Joey made a noise somewhere in the region of distressed and disgusted, flinching as he did so.

"Well, we're not getting anything done standing here and theorizing," Wilson said, using his free hand to shove them along. "Come on, let's get this over with."


	116. The Ice Cavern

**Chapter 116, everybody! Presenting another (relatively gargantuan) chapter that I had long planned out, in which we have a massive reference to _Balto_, another one to _Ice Age,_ another one to the _Don't Starve_ DLC _Shipwrecked_, _another_ one to _How to Train Your Dragon,_ and another one to _King Solomon's Mines_ by H. Rider Haggard. And we get to see the bane of the vanilla version of _Don't Starve_….And Wilson's slow revelation is a reference to _Jurassic Park III, _I just realized. And I had fun utilizing my review conversations….And watching _The Revenant_ with my parents—_holy cow_****….One, Rae was lucky to shoot the bearger straight down the throat, and two, these guys are having a cushy time of it compared to DiCaprio's experience. D:**

**And happy Passover, by the by. :)**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Aha, yes—I've heard it done that way before, but I can't quite remember from where (shrugs). Eheh, maybe next time I use it I'll have someone say that. :D Yes indeedy! And then pockets in deep snow—good luck getting out of that. D: Good question—maybe a little of both….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, no poking! We do not poke Frost Kings! D: No worries—I figured you were attending to life (or had a mondo huge assignment to attend to). Yes….And that right there might make you enjoy this chapter a bit more. ;) Funnily enough, 1) my old laptop never had that problem (the enter key would pop off, but that was because it was stabbed by a flattened cardboard box during its formative years), and 2) ever since I brought it up, the keys haven't stuck. :| This just furthers my opinion that computers possess intelligence and are planning to overthrow us….Tis true…and oh my goodness yes—I'm going to be so far from happy if Marvel ends up contacting me saying "You know, you can't use that name…." Especially considering Thanos doesn't answer to anything else now….That is also true—and yes. Example: when referring to multiple legendary Pokémon in a fanfic I'm working on, referring to them as legendaries—which Word does not recognize, even though it's the appropriate way to write it plural (and then not recognizing the word "plurally", making the previous sentence sound odd). And then not giving me a proper idea as to whether "eying" or "eyeing" is appropriate. Yes, Wilson is good for big words (he has been a ****_lifesaver_**** throughout my Ph.D., since I can go from the academic writing to writing for him and back to the academic writing without really changing the writing style—and it feels more fluid when I'm writing academically and thinking of Wilson :D). Don't feel too bad—I've had movies that I've watched hundreds of times and then suddenly "Wait—I know that voice." Which can screw a person up, to be honest—the first time we finally watched ****_The Croods_****, I was listening to the father and then turned to Mom and said "Is that Nicholas Cage?" That ruined the whole show for Mom, for some reason. :|**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Ice Age © 2002 Carlos Saldanha; Chris Wedge**

**Balto © 1995 Universal Pictures &amp; Amblin Entertainment**

**How to Train Your Dragon © 2010 Chris Sanders; Dean DeBlois**

**Jurassic Park III © 2001 Joe Johnston**

**King Solomon's Mines © 1885 Sir H. Rider Haggard**

Yugi would have taken smaller and smaller steps as they headed for the end of the tunnel, if it weren't for the fact that Willow was apparently also of the opinion that it needed to be gotten over with too, having seized his wrist firmly and all but charging ahead to the light—

And then he ran smack into her when she stopped—

But he could understand—it was ridiculously bright suddenly, and did feel more open—maybe they had finally made it out—

And then his eyes adjusted.

_"Woah,"_ Joey noised, which Yugi felt summed the whole thing up quite well.

It was an ice cavern.

A _huge_ one.

Yami's lair could have fit on the little plateau they were on—stalagmites and stalactites taller than Wilson grew from the floor and the ceiling like huge teeth, while columns bigger and thicker than the ones in the Royals' palace supported the ceiling.

The nearest one had a dead pine tree encased in it.

Rae tapped the column. "Well," she noised, looking to Wilson. "What do you think? King Solomon's Mines?"

Wilson looked up from extinguishing the currently unnecessary torches, blinked as he apparently realized what was in there. He looked to Yami; Yugi followed suit, to see that Yami was looking at the tree with an expression Yugi couldn't readily identify.

"I think," Wilson said finally. "That this shortcut is not as safe as we might have hoped. We'll need to get out of here, and _fast_."

* * *

Getting out of there quickly, as Wilson had wanted, soon became easier said than done.

They had gotten off the plateau with little incident—Wilson had Joey, Tristan, and Bakura help him ease the sled down off the little ledge, as he had surmised that having the sled simply slam off the ledge might dislodge one or more of the stalactites.

Yugi looked up when he had explained that—they _looked_ tethered enough, but he could understand Wilson not wanting to risk it.

Where all haste had been abandoned, however, was when they saw that there were other things encased in the icy walls.

A huge swarm of fish that looked like they had been caught mid-swim, pursued by round red things with stubby limbs and a huge dorsal fin, in turn pursued by a huge monster that looked like a cross between a tiger and a shark.

Wolves, both regular and monstrous, in various poses of agony.

A real, actual bear, half-rearing.

A _Viking,_ fighting what looked like a bone-dragon.

And one spot that was empty but for a line of greasy gray, although if viewed from the right angle, an emptiness in the ice could be seen, one that had wings and a tail.

It was like a really, really twisted museum.

Which was made all the worse when Wilson finally broke the silence and voiced his opinion.

"It's a trophy room," he said, so quietly that only the few people next to him could hear.

Yugi regretted being one of those few people. That quiet declaration made all the creepy death throes of those trapped in the ice worse.

"How did they get caught like this?" Willow wondered.

"Avalanche?" Rae guessed, looking to Wilson for support. Wilson, meanwhile, seemed too taken up with recording everything in his notes for later.

_"Fish_ were in an _avalanche?"_

"The nerd will give you a proper answer when he finally looks up, I'm sure."

"We do not call your resident scientist a _nerd_," Wilson noised testily.

"Ah, he speaks."

Yami, meanwhile…Yami was gingerly mincing his way through, eyeing everything with growing concern.

"I don't like this," Yami said finally.

"_You_ picked this route," Yugi pointed out.

"Well, yeah…but the other way was worse."

Worse than creepy ice-mausoleums?

"Dude," Tristan noised from up ahead, staring at something—something _big,_ by the way his head was tipped back.

They rounded the corner to see just what he was looking at.

"Dude," Rae echoed.

It vaguely resembled Yami, in that it had huge antlers and a massively thick ruff of fur around its neck and was an icy blue. That was where all similarities ended, as this thing was _huge_, as big as both of the mutant bear-beargers put together, with long black limbs ending in wicked claws on the forelimbs and sharp hooves on the hind limbs. It gave the impression of a giant bipedal deer, except for the face—the face had one huge glaring eye dead center, and a snarling maw filled with teeth that had more business in a bear mouth than a deer one.

"What. Is. _That,"_ Bakura asked flatly, careful emphasis on each word.

"_That,"_ Wilson began, and then trailed off. "That…might actually be a species never before laid eyes upon by man. Fascinating." Immediately back to scribbling in his notes.

"Yeah, but what _is_ it?"

"_Higgsburius Cyclopsius,"_ Willow declared. "Because stuff is always named after the scientists that discover it. But that's too much of a mouthful for the rest of us, so we'll just call it Deerclops."

"'Deerclops'?" Joey echoed.

"I _have_ been wanting something named after me," Wilson mused, tapping his pencil against his mouth.

"Well, why didn't you say something?" Rae asked, grinning as she pointed at the ground. "Right there—we'll call it Higgsbury Rock. Careful, kiddies, you don't want to trip over it!"

"You're mocking me, I can tell."

"My goodness, yes."

"Can we go now?" Serenity asked in a small voice. Yami swiveled his head around to regard her before obliging, everyone falling into step after him.

"_That_ was different," Yugi muttered to Willow as Rae and Wilson continued to argue.

"I'm pretty sure that's why Wilson thinks it's a new species," Willow said.

"I kind of mean in a _mutant bear attack_ different."

"This is true—good thing that thing's dead, huh?"

"Very good."

"And I suppose _you_ want something named after you then?" Wilson asked, sounding very peeved now.

"Definitely," Rae countered, not sounding as worked up—Yugi was surprised that she was so calm-sounding compared to Wilson. "Back there with the Screecher—Rae's Pass. Where the fearless Rae Dunway blew a monster to bits."

"You were most certainly not _fearless_ back there."

"It was an improvement over you—that was a remarkably high-pitched scream you produced."

_"Excuse me?"_

"You heard me."

"They like each other," Willow said sagely.

"You've said that before," Yugi observed. "I didn't believe it then, either."

"They do."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"The way Rae gets under Wilson's skin."

"Ew."

"Figuratively speaking."

"Oh. Well, to be fair to Wilson, we _did_ kind of make him thin-skinned over the years."

"How do you figure?"

"Or maybe we rubbed his nerves raw."

"_That_ might be it."

"Let's be honest here," Wilson said, sounding less miffed. "If we're going to name _anything_ after you, it might be that trail where you blew that bear's—"

"Bearger," Willow called back.

"Whatever," Wilson said, waving them off. "That trail where you blew that _bearger's_ brains out—_that_ might count, since it didn't end with you freezing in terror."

"Hey!" Rae said, sounding brighter. "That means I get _two_ things—a trail _and_ a pass! I like that one!"

"_That's not what I meant!"_

"Will you two _shut up?"_ Bakura snapped. "You're arguing to wake the dead!"

Something rumbled, making the ice tremble.

Everyone froze and looked back.

Again, the rumbling.

"_You_ are not allowed to talk anymore," Teana said to Bakura. _"Ever."_

And then something exploded out of the ice behind them—

The Deerclops.

Alive and well.

And, they saw as it turned to glare at them, possessing that same sickly green glow to its single eye that the beargers had.

This was _so_ not good.

It was a sentiment echoed by the others—Willow used a word that under different circumstances would have prompted Wilson to wash her mouth out, although it was drowned out by Rae's more florid language and the Deerclops bellowing in anger and striking the opposite wall—

Light tinkling, so at odds with the current situation that Yugi _had_ to tear his eyes away from the monster advancing to look up—

The stalactites that Wilson had worried about were indeed coming loose from their moorings.

Wilson looked up too, shoved Rae away as one came loose above them and arrowed down—

And split the back of the sled in half.

They stared, all of them, for a moment, processing the split back and handle—

And then the Deerclops roared again.

"_Everyone on the sled!"_ Wilson fairly screamed. _"Now! Now! NOW!"_

This time, Yugi managed to avoid cracking his head against Joey's, hanging onto the sled for dear life, Willow smushed against him, trying to maneuver upright for more room, his teeth slamming together as the _thud, thud, thud_ of the Deerclop's steps made the sled bounce—

And then frantic swerving, as Yami avoided the stalactites continuing to rain down and smash against the ground, everyone sliding back and forth and narrowly avoiding flying clear off the sled at a few points—Joey managed to catch Yugi by the scruff of the neck when he slipped off, and was in turn snagged by Tristan, keeping him on the sled as the next swerve brought Yugi back on—

And then Willow cried out—Yugi looked—

Dead end.

And Yami wasn't slowing down.

"_Yami!"_ Yugi yelled, pressing back against Joey in a futile attempt to stave off impact.

"Hang on!" Yami called, lowering his head and piling on the speed—

And then it seemed as though the blue flame on his head flared into an inferno—

Wilson and Rae cried out in alarm as the Deerclops bellowed, sounding like it was right on top of them—

And then a breathless moment as they surged through the ice, so much ice, far away from the Deerclops—

And then out into brilliant sun—

"Oh no," Willow breathed, pressed back against Yugi and holding onto the sled for dear life.

Why she said that became crystal-clear when he looked down to see that they hadn't connected with the slope dipping away from them yet. And said slope looked to be several dozen feet below them.

"Oh no," Yugi echoed, before the screaming started.

He hoped the impact didn't hurt too much.


	117. Windfalls

**Chapter 117, everybody! In which the group meets the ground and solar wind is discussed.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes indeed—good question. And good question—most probably….And good question…and perhaps not ****_that_**** crazy a theory….Haha, yes. :D And yes, not good. D: But don't worry, we'll find out what happens in this chapter. ;)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, and enjoy that sudden uptake too (thus ends ****_The Frost King_****—we hope you enjoyed—wait a minute…). Yes, no poking. Ooh, a job—is it any good? Yes, but it was annoying while it lasted. Maybe—but it's back to ****_eeeee_****ing now, so things are back to normal (?). I certainly hope not—but they ****_are_**** owned by Disney now, and Disney is a bit more firm about intellectual property. But hopefully, it won't become an issue (besides, ****Bounty Hunter Thanos is where it's at :D). Too bad, Word, I want to use the word "plurally." I know—weird word rules for the week: dryly or drily? If only Spellcheck solved the issues we're interested in….Oh yes indeedy *runs off to hug a baffled gentleman scientist* Yes it is—and then we hunt on YouTube for videos where someone put dialogue from the same voice actor in a different role that they voice (first thing I did after coming home from ****_Zootopia_**** was to look to see if anyone had done any ****_Spider-Man/Portal_**** cracks with the Zootopia mayor—voiced by J.K. Simmons).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Balto © 1995 Universal Pictures &amp; Amblin Entertainment ("I think I hit my head on something...")**

**Cool Runnings © 1993 Jon Turteltaub; Disney ("Sanka, you dead?")**

**The Lion King © 1994 Roger Allers; Rob Minkoff; Disney ("look to the stars…")**

Wilson regretted that the handle of the sled was broken.

It made hanging on for dear life somewhat difficult.

He was practically parallel to the ground now, death-grip on the sled handle the only thing keeping him _with_ the sled—but that impact was going to _hurt_, it was going to so very much hurt—

And then someone up ahead made a noise other than screaming in terror—he forced his eyes open (like having them closed was somehow going to neutralize the problem)—

To see that Yami's huge frost-webbed wings were spread, angling them down and somewhat slowing their descent. Okay, somewhat heartening, wonderfully scientific—why now, when his notes were in his pockets and _forget the stupid notes! You're still falling at a speed that'll break every bone in your body when you hit!_

And then Yami was flapping frantically, whipping up a flurry of snow—he was staying up, but the sled was angling down—oh joy, it was going to hit back-end first—Yami angled down with it—

And they connected with superbly soft, fluffy snow—

And sank about three feet into it.

Wilson allowed himself a moment to wonder what this must look like from above—a perfect outline of the whole mess, he was sure—before forcing himself to take stock of it all, make sure that everything was still connected and that nothing was broken, and haul himself back up on the runner to pop his head out of the snow. He felt very much like a rabbit just then, sticking his head out of his burrow to see if it was safe.

And then Rae popped up next to him.

"Good news," he rasped, throat sore from screaming—fear of death tended to prompt that. "Your hat and your glasses are still there."

"If my guns are still with us, I'll be the happiest girl around," Rae said, glancing about.

Wilson sincerely doubted that Rae had lost her death-grip on her Night Judge, considering she had tried to utilize it to shoot that massive monster before the swerving and jerking of the sled made it impossible to aim. The final fate of her shotgun was more questionable.

"Is everyone all right?" he decided to call instead.

"Ow," came from the snow immediately in front of him. He floundered towards the noise, dug down, found something that felt like hair, and yanked up—

Pulling Bakura up.

"Wrong one, put it back," Rae said.

Bakura glared at Wilson, but surprised him by instead floundering around in the snow much like Wilson had.

"Teana!" he called. "_Teana!"_

"Idiot!" Rae snapped. "You've got that dowsing rod—use _it_ instead of bringing another avalanche down on us!"

Bakura quieted, digging into his clothes.

"Ow…."

Wilson perked at the new noise, glanced around—

"Ow…hey, Joey," he heard Tristan call. "You dead?"

"I feel like it," Joey moaned. "I think I hit my head on something…."

"Yeah—_my_ head."

Wilson bumped his shin against the ruins of the sled back, stepped onto it to get a better angle—

From the looks of it, everyone was there. Wilson allowed himself a sigh of relief.

"All right then, let's get out of this mess," Wilson noised.

And then Yami popped up and shook the snow off his head.

"That was _great!"_ Yami chimed. "Can we do it again?"

The answer to that was unanimous.

_"NO!"_

* * *

They found a little ridge with a cliff wall to one side where they could camp for the night. The wind wasn't being very obliging, but they managed to keep relatively warm by huddling together. Eventually, most of them fell asleep by the guttering fire.

Wilson was not one of them, trying hard to work on his notes. After struggling to keep his papers from flying away, he gave it up as a bad job and stuffed them back into his backpack. So much for writing down his thoughts on the day.

Rae was cleaning her guns—both of them; they had survived the fall, and Bakura had been surprisingly obliging on helping her find them.

Wilson was of the opinion that he'd have to get to the bottom of this sudden shift in personality from the Thief Prince—it was a little unnerving, to say the least.

"Wow, look at that," Rae noised suddenly.

Wilson looked up sharply—blinked at the sight before him.

The Aurora Borealis.

"Do you know," Wilson noised. "That the Aurora Borealis is caused by solar winds hitting the atmosphere?"

_"Must_ you apply dry science to everything?" Rae asked.

"I don't know—I don't think solar winds are _that_ boring; they travel roughly a million miles an hour."

"And how do _you_ know that?"

"I read. Extensively."

"So do I, and _I_ didn't know that."

"Ha, see? You've learned something then."

"I'm going to kill you if it turns out to be Friday today."

"Oh dear me," Wilson retorted drily, only mildly concerned. He heard something next to him—looked to see Yami sitting there and watching the sky placidly.

"You know," Yami said. "The wolves say that all the stars are the souls of those who lived before and have passed on, and the northern lights are them singing to each other."

"See?" Rae asked, pointing. "That right there—I like that explanation better."

"You _don't_ like solar winds?" Wilson asked.

"I admit they sound exciting—but it's hard to apply a million-mile-an-hour windstorm to something that serene-looking."

"I'm sure all storms look serene enough from far away."

Rae quirked a smile before firmly planting her hand on her hat as the wind shifted again.

"You know," she noised, after the wind died. "I have, in my horde, the blueprints to a few different machines. Maybe when this is all over, I could find another Bradbury-Orwell who specializes in that sort of thing."

Wilson felt the edges of his mouth move up slightly. "Or you could ask me."

"Oh, you do that sort of thing?"

"What brought this on?"

"All storms look serene from far away, you said," she said, smiling at him. "Who knows? Maybe when this storm is serene enough, we can look back on it…people write travelogues all the time. And isn't it the job of a Bradbury-Orwell to tell the story?"

Wilson tipped his head, thinking, turned to stir the fire and add a few more pieces of tinder.

"I think I can help you," he said finally. "Under one condition."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I get more named for me than just a lousy _rock_."

She gave a sort of coughing laugh. "I'll see what I can do."

"That's all I ask."


	118. The White Dragon

**Chapter 118, everybody! Which I believe kicks off the last eventish event before what we could call the climax…now I need to work on this one until I get the whole thing *gulp* done. D: Now if only that other story of mine would stop demanding all my time….**

**In other news: just watched ****_Avengers: Age of Ultron_****….Better than ****_The Revenant_****—but then again, I don't think ****_The Revenant_**** put up that much of a fight. :\**

**PhantomBrat, thanks for the review! Yes, we can't figure out ****_why_**** no one else liked falling off the sheer face of a mountain….And thank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed everything thus far! :D I shall do my best to continue to please! :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes—as Hobbes said in one ****_Calvin and Hobbes _****cartoon: "Science kind of takes the fun out of the portent business." Yes, at least Yami had fun—as for the rest of them, I kind of think it's like the end of the ice slide in ****_Ice Age:_**** Diego is all "****_Woo! Who's up for round two!?"_**** and the others are just "Yeah…no." Nice! And now the monitors are screwing up….Words were had with the computer. Pointed ones. That would make Wilson get the soap out. Oops. I hope so—unless the Marvel-movie-verse is winding up to have some big thing with him…*looks up* Yeah, they are—and apparently he was in the ****_Guardians of the Galaxy_**** movie too…obviously, he was not memorable. And Bounty Hunter Thanos doesn't need world-breaking gemstones to be awesome, either. :D Me neither—I just normally go with "eyeing" and "drily" because they look "more correct," even though that's pretty objective. They might have some, now that they've had time to make the connection….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Mulan © 1998 Barry Cook; Tony Bancroft; Disney ("They popped outta the snow! Like daisies!")**

**The Hobbit © 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien ("We must away at break of day…")**

**Ghostbusters © 1984 Ivan Reitman (which makes the second time Wilson has used that line in this story…)**

They continued on down the mountain, heading for the one that Yami didn't like, barely visible through the fog.

"I don't know," Willow said, looking the amorphous shape of the encroaching mountain over. "It doesn't _look_ any more threatening than the other mountains."

"Which means it probably has something toothy on it," Yugi pointed out.

"This is true."

Rae was humming a tune that Yugi didn't recognize, eyeing the peak before them.

"I don't know," she said finally. "I'd call it Lonely Mountain, except for the fact that it isn't exactly lonely."

"We could call it Higgsbury Peak," Wilson suggested.

"Keep dreaming, nerd-boy."

"I thought we discussed that I was _not_ to be called that—"

Yami stopped suddenly, ears pricked forward.

"What?" Yugi asked, standing up on the sled; Willow followed suit. "What is it?"

And then Yami's ears flattened, and he leaned back in a crouch, snarling as his fur stood on end—

There in the valley—something was moving in the snow left by the avalanche.

A clawed hand poked out of a snowdrift—

Yugi made a noise that might have prompted Wilson to get out the soap.

Although he might be using it on Rae first, as Wilson and Rae had circled around and Rae was much more direct in her swearing.

Yugi glanced at her—she was rooting in her pockets.

"I'm running out of bullets," she said. "And there's a _lot_ of those buggers loitering around down there."

Wilson had his head tipped at an oblique angle, to avoid directly looking at any of the Screechers in the valley ahead. "We could go around," he suggested.

"Or we could lure them into a pass where they'd have a bottleneck."

"I'm all for killing them," Joey said, clinging to a cowering Serenity. "Did you _see_ them? They popped up out of the snow! Like daisies!"

"I'm all for _not dying_, myself," Tristan said. "But those things survived an avalanche—"

And then one of the Screechers screamed.

"Okay, new plan," Rae said, shouldering her shotgun and sighting down it. "We start shooting and hope for the best."

"Terrible plan," Wilson said, tugging on her arm and heading to the back of the sled. "Yami! Get us out of here!"

Except Yami wasn't doing it—instead, he was flaring his wings, snarl escalating into a roar to challenge the Screechers—

And then the echo of a roar came back to them.

But it did _not_ sound like Yami's roar.

Yugi looked up as a muted _thwump thwump thwump_ sounded—

And then it was like a column of lighting shot straight down, incinerating the Screechers—and most of the valley as well.

Yugi and Willow had dove for the snow. Willow sat up—

"Was that a _dragon?"_ she asked, stunned.

"Do what?" Yugi asked, sitting up as well.

Yami's ears were folded back now as he scanned the skies. Yugi wondered if the Frost King could handle a fire-breathing dragon. If it even was a dragon. Wait—had it even _breathed_ fire? Could dragons breathe lightning?

He stood to scan the valley—Wilson was already looking, he noted—

Nothing but the burnt-out swathe of ground the lightning had impossibly travelled along.

"Well," Wilson noised, swallowing. "That is…."

"Not good?" Yugi suggested.

"I was searching for different words, but those will work, yes."

Yugi felt intense cold to one side and looked—Yami was hovering over him, watching the skies.

"I take it it's not a friendly dragon?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know, but it's coming back," Yami declared.

Everyone bolted for the sled—

And then the dragon landed, sending snow flying—

Yugi recovered, looked up through the swirling fog—

Absolute dumbstruck would describe him just then.

The dragon was _huge_, like Deerclops huge, with shining blue-white scales that blended into the fog, sinuous neck and tail, huge wings, _huge_ wicked curving claws, a mouthful of sharp teeth—

And angry blue eyes flecked with green.

_"Intruders!"_ it screeched. _"How dare you trespass on my mountain!"_

They didn't respond—_couldn't_ respond—

"For the record," Rae said finally, addressing Yami. "When you say that the mountain is dangerous, be specific—_big bloody dragon_ would have done it for me!"

Yugi was surprised that Rae managed to be coherent enough for that.

Yami, meanwhile, was between them and the dragon, wings spread and fur on end—and yet he was still so _small_ compared to the dragon—

"We didn't mean to!" Yami yelled at it. "We're looking for something!"

The dragon narrowed its eyes—its nostrils flared—

"You smell of the sorcerer," it snarled. "The one that stole my mate and hatchlings—I'll kill you. _I'll kill you!_"

Yami beat his wings, sending cold snow and straight into the dragon's mouth and snout.

"NO!" Yami yelled. "No killing!"

Wilson was between the dragon and Yugi and Willow now—Yugi wondered just how much protection Wilson thought he was offering.

"Hey! Hey!" Rae yelled, suddenly right next to them with her hands up. "Hey! We're all intelligent beings here—we can help, right?"

Everyone who _wasn't _busy gaping at the dragon turned to gape at Rae.

"Are you _seriously_ trying to talk down a _dragon?"_ Tristan hissed finally.

"In everything I've read, dragons are intelligent, reasonable beings," Rae said carefully, pitching her voice so the dragon could hopefully hear. "Wilson, you said you were well-read—back me up on this."

"I would," Wilson murmured. "But I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought at the moment."

"And I'm not!?"

_"Silence!"_ the dragon roared, beating its wings—the force of it knocked them down. "You're trying to trick me—trick me like the green sorcerer did!"

"We can help!" Yugi tried to yell, but it was lost in the snow.

And then Yami roared—a sound like the avalanche, that bounced off the mountainsides and caused the dragon to pause.

"We can help," Yami said coolly, when the echoes faded. "We can help you, but not if you keep trying to kill us!"

"It defeats the purpose somewhat," Willow muttered, next to Yugi.

The dragon narrowed its eyes and snarled. "It's a trick."

"It's not a trick," Yami maintained. "Ask the wolves, ask the birds, ask the deer—I _keep_ my word."

Now the dragon snorted. "Fine then. But I want a _proper_ guarantee."

And with that, it wrapped one great clawed hand around the sled and launched upright.

Screams told Yugi that there were still people _on_ the sled.

"Three days!" the dragon snarled, hovering above them. It grabbed Yami—still dangling by the harness—and yanked him away from the sled, snapping the harness before flinging him to the ground. "If my mate and hatchlings aren't back by sundown on the third day, _these die!"_

_"No!"_

Yugi wasn't sure who yelled that, but he wasn't the only one who ridiculously tried to chase the dragon—Bakura did, floundering in the snow, and Yami managed to get somewhat airborne before the buffeting of the dragon's wings knocked him back to earth.

And then it was gone.

_They_ were gone.

Rae's initial muted curse probably summed up the situation well.

So did Willow's comment.

"Well," she said, sounding like she was trying to stay calm. "This sucks."

Yugi couldn't agree more.


	119. The Burning Plains

**Chapter 119, everybody! In which we find out who ****_didn't_**** get snatched by an angry dragon….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! No worries—life happens, and technology is ****_evil_****. Yes, thank you, Yami! :D Ah, yes, he has wings, but he doesn't seem to use them all that often—mostly for threat displays, it seems. That chapter was indeed the first time he's ever flown in this story. No, it was not—but it was probably justified….Maybe male? He might have been off hunting for his mate and children and they got snatched while he was gone—we'll have to wait and see. Yes indeed! And true…and very true—most of them, at least. :O**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! That darn Willow! Yes, it's more fun to believe that Jack Frost swings by rather than the earth tilting away from the sun (or that the Frost King comes to visit instead of staying in his story where he belongs). Yes, once you find out that yes, you ****_would_**** survive it….No, I'm certain I'm not (I'm not even the only one in my house that does it). If these things were voice-operated, they'd have blown up by now. And I ****_have_**** heard that the act of swearing releases stress (weird). I'll be honest, the most memorable parts of that movie involved the raccoon and Groot (Groot should have won the Oscar for best dialogue—why is Word recognizing that as a word?...). I don't know either—Zolo from ****_One Piece_**** can be translated as Zoro, and was for the first few issues of the English translation of ****_Shonen Jump_****, but they changed it because they were worried about him being confused with Zorro—which made no sense to me, as they were both swordsmen, but I guess they were worried about Zorro carving Z's into their walls. It's all in perception, apparently….I ****_know!_**** It's up to us, it would seem….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

The dragon had taken Joey, Tristan, Serenity, and Teana.

The last one obviously impacted Bakura hard, to the point that Rae had to actually slap him upside the head so hard Yugi could hear it.

"_Snap out of it!"_ Rae ordered. _"Moping isn't going to fix things, so get up and help already!"_

"Be at least somewhat sympathetic," Wilson ordered.

Yugi could understand Bakura's straits—he and Willow hadn't really let go of each other since the dragon left.

But then again, Rae's straits were understandable too—she had lost people dear to her as well, and there wasn't some fetch-quest that was going to bring them back, either.

Yami, meanwhile, had stayed because Wilson called him back, but was now watching the mountain, ears down, fur drooping, and wings sagging. He had thought he had failed, apparently, and nothing Yugi or Willow had said had convinced him otherwise.

But Rae's yelling had succeeded in getting Bakura out of his funk—he was standing now, running his fingers through his hair and looking around for his hat. He found it in the snow, beat it, and put it back on.

"So," he noised finally. "A dragon and hatchlings, huh? Shouldn't be too hard to find."

"If they're still alive," Wilson said darkly, as Bakura fished the Millennium Ring out.

A worried silence accompanied that.

"Way to kill the mood, Wilson," Rae tried to crack.

It fell flat.

She cleared her throat and looked to Bakura. "So? Where to?"

Bakura's expression was dour as he pointed.

"That way," he said. "Straight across those burning plains."

* * *

"Burning plains" was apparently very accurate—the ground was still warm from where the dragon had…er….

"Would you call that stuff flames or lightning?" Yugi asked Willow.

"Lightning-flames," Willow said promptly. "Or…or a plasma blast…or…why are you asking me?"

"Because you're the flame expert."

"This is true. I'm not sure what it'd be called, though—it _looked_ like lightning."

"A nova blast?" Rae suggested, glancing their way.

"That might be it."

"Whatever it was, we don't have to worry about any of those Screechers surviving," Wilson pointed out. "Or any ill effects left over from them—temperatures hot enough to flash-evaporate several dozen feet of snow would be enough to incinerate _any_ germs."

Indeed, they had slid down a steep icy incline upon reaching the plains, and were trying very hard now not to slough all their winter coats at the temperature. Yugi was sweating heavily now, and not liking it one bit.

Yami, understandably, refused to set foot on the ground, and had gone the long way around.

It was late afternoon before they saw him again, sitting at the far edge of the plain on the snowbank, sitting at attention with ears pricked forward, expression on his face almost stern.

"What's eating him?" Yugi muttered.

"The dragon, if we're not careful," Willow said. "Did you see how it grabbed him?"

He had. "Yami doesn't have any broken bones, does he?"

"If he does, I have no idea how to check without being frozen," Wilson said. "And I daresay, probably the only thing injured on the Frost King is his pride."

Yugi doubted it—it wasn't pride that was hurt on Yami, he was sure. He was…disappointed, maybe?

Yes, Yugi decided, when they had come close enough to see Yami's expression better. Yami was disappointed in himself, for not protecting everyone from a random dragon attack. But who was even expecting a dragon, anyway? That had come out of nowhere…hadn't it?

"I didn't know dragons lived in the mountains here," Yugi said, when they had come close enough to Yami to address him.

"The wolves said they fly over this way," Yami said, as Bakura struggled up the slope—Yami had apparently spread some snow so it was easier, but there was still that slick layer of ice to contend with. "But they also said that they hadn't heard as many dragon roars lately."

"The missing ones, I presume," Wilson said, scratching his head before travelling down the bank a little. He found whatever he was looking for, because he suddenly kicked the ice, hard. His heel cracked the still-slushy ice, and he dug out a few slabs before clambering up the bank, having a distinctly easier time of it than Bakura had.

"You could have said something," Bakura said testily.

"And ruin your learning experience?" Wilson returned airily.

"Speaking of," Rae said, pointing at Yami as she went over to Wilson's bank. "_You_ could have very easily said that there was a dragon on that mountain. _Dragon_ is a lot easier to get than _big things with teeth that want to kill us._ _Dragon_ gives a clear mental image, capiche?"

Yami lowered his head, ears flat, looking distinctly down at the scolding.

"Don't scold Yami," Willow chided, following Rae. "This wasn't his fault."

"And while we're playing the blame game," Bakura snapped, pointing at Rae. "I notice _you_ didn't try to shoot that thing!"

"Hel-_lo!_" Rae shot back. "I didn't have a death wish, I'll have you know!"

"But letting it snatch the others, that was fine, huh?"

"Better than us all being _dead!"_

"_Stop it!"_ Yugi yelled, feeling his voice crack. _"Stop fighting!"_

He rubbed his nose, sniffling slightly—no. Now was _not_ the time to break down. He wasn't a little kid who couldn't handle this sort of thing, and he didn't need the adults thinking he was.

Except he _was_ a little kid who couldn't handle this sort of thing, and right now it felt like he had an avalanche dumped on him, and he wasn't able to breathe from the weight.

Willow touched him on the arm, quietly offering her support, while Wilson simply offered his handkerchief like he usually did. Yugi accepted it and blew his nose, doing his best to ignore Bakura and Rae looking uncomfortable.

"We need to get going," Bakura said finally.

"Can we afford to travel through the night?" Wilson asked the group at large. "If not, we'll have to start looking for a place to camp."

"What?" Bakura asked. "_No_, we can't afford to stop—that dragon has—"

_"Can we afford to travel through the night?"_ Wilson repeated. "Are there Screechers still travelling around? Are there crags we could fall into? _We won't be of any use to them dead, Bakura."_

Bakura looked like he wanted to argue, but subsided.

Yami stood and made a small noise.

"This way," he said, and started off.

"And why should we follow you?" Bakura asked. "If it weren't for _you,_ we wouldn't be in this mess."

The slope of Yami's shoulders told Yugi that this had occurred to the Frost King. And Yami didn't have an argument for Bakura—it had probably never occurred to him _to_ argue the point. He just looked at Yugi mournfully.

Yugi walked up to him.

"I'll follow you," he said, trying very hard not to sound like he had been crying. Sniff—ergh, frozen boogers.

"Me too," Willow said, right behind Yugi.

They looked to Wilson, who seemed to be in agreement; he turned to look at Rae.

"I never said I wouldn't follow him," Rae said. "I just said his communications skills suck."

They looked at Bakura.

"Fine," Bakura grumbled.

Yami looked distinctly less down as he led them towards a cave for the night.


	120. Even a Miracle Needs a Hand

**Chapter 120, everybody! In which Judeo-Christian references occur—I'm a Christian, it happens, and will continue to happen for as long as I live (and after, come to think of it…).**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! I know! Where did that stupid dragon come from, anyway!? Besides being there from the get-go in my script (I don't know ****_why_****, it just happened when I was scripting it, and it wouldn't leave—kind of like in the story, come to think of it…). He shouldn't, but it's one of those moments where he can't help but kick himself and think of what he could have done (we've all been there). I know…where's Olaf? He could give him a hug without being frozen. Aha, yes, probably—and without consulting me, either….No! It's horrible! Just ask Calvin from ****_Calvin and Hobbes _****(when I wrote that moment, I couldn't help but think of Bill Watterson's comment in one of the collections: "I hope some historian will confirm that I was the first person to use the word 'booger' in a newspaper comic").**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, at least there's that….How could you forget about our favorite-character-we-didn't-realize-was-a-character? Answer: because we don't realize it's a character….See how they are? Yes, it's true….Well, that's good to know. It does save on replacing them at least…yes….And they are—maybe because of DeviantArt. And better lines. And from what Mom and I agreed on this morning, about Chris Pratt not being that standout of an actor (he's in ****_Jurassic World_****, and to be honest, he wasn't that memorable there either). Because technology is ****_evil!_**** That might have been it (and if they had kept it that way—"It's Zoro!" "With one 'r' or two?"). You'll get to it eventually (I have a similar pile, and it's not shrinking…I need to get back to work D:).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Dinosaur ****© 2000 Disney ("I for one am _not_ willing to die _here!_")**

**'****Twas the Night Before Christmas (TV movie) © 1974 Rankin-Bass (the chapter title and some of Wilson's speech is inspired by the song "Even a Miracle Needs a Hand" from that movie)**

The cave was dry, at least, and Yami kept going out and bringing them tiny twigs and grass and other burnable material that Wilson was slowly burning in a painfully tiny fire.

"Can't we have a bigger fire?" Willow asked him.

"Well, we could," Wilson told her. "But then we'd be sitting in the dark for about half the night."

That would be bad, she had to agree.

Yami came back with another tiny stick. "Aren't there any Lief-cousins around?" she asked him.

Yami deposited the stick and shook his head. "They don't come this way—they never told me why."

"Maybe they don't like the dragon," Yugi said.

"He _does_ seem to not like having neighbors," Willow agreed.

"Or maybe it's something else," Rae said, as Yami bounded out of the cave again in search of more tinder—why, _why_ had the dragon taken their sled with all their supplies and their companions? And maybe she ought to be more concerned with the people instead of the stuff, she reflected. "Remember that tree in the ice? If they won't sit for Yami's gabbing, I bet they wouldn't sit and let ice form around them."

Okay, that thought was actually somewhat disturbing. She glanced at Yugi, was somewhat relieved to see that he was bothered by the thought, too.

"Do you think the dragon gave us three full days, or did this day count?" Willow asked.

"I get the feeling that our luck, as Rae puts it, is not that good," Wilson said. "I'm counting today as one of the days."

"Maybe we'll be lucky and his mate will stop him when she gets there," Yugi said.

"If he's got enough sense left _to_ listen," Rae pointed out.

That prompted Willow to glance at Yugi, whose expression told her that yes, he had noticed it too: the dragon had green in its eyes. So had the Deerclops, and the Beargers. A brief wordless conversation said that no, he had no idea what caused it either.

She sighed, went to talk to Bakura, who had stayed by the cave entrance, glowering out into the night.

"Are you going to sulk there forever?" she asked.

"No," Bakura said. "Just until morning."

"And you were doing so well, too."

"Can't you go bother someone else?"

"First, you tell me what's eating you. It'll make you feel better."

"Doubtful."

"Then at least say how much further we've got—"

"Will you _shut up and bug someone else!?"_ Bakura snapped at her. _"This isn't some game where if you screw up you can start over! There are real people with real lives on the line here, and no one seems to care!"_

Serenity might have cried. Rae would have hit him. Teana would have scolded him. But Willow was her own person, and made of sterner stuff than that.

"Maybe when you see her again, you ought to tell her how you feel," she said, and turned to sit by the fire—

And bumped into Yugi, busy giving Bakura the wimpiest stink-eye she had ever seen. Wilson, behind him, was more effective.

"Don't make the mistake of thinking you're the only one with loved ones at stake," Wilson told him, before herding Willow and Yugi back to the wimpy fire. Her lighter made more light than this thing. Yami came back in, looking weary as he dropped another tiny stick onto the tinier pile.

"I'm thinking you ought to take a break," Wilson told him.

Yami shook his head. "No, I'm good."

"I'm sure. I'd rather you did anyway—we want you performing your best tomorrow. And you didn't answer her question," he added, directing this last bit at Bakura.

"Can't you let me sulk in peace?" Bakura asked.

"No sulking," Rae said. "And no whining, and no moping, and no premature mourning. This isn't over until the fat lady sings, and news flash, I don't hear anybody warming up for a solo."

Much better. Willow smiled at Yugi, huddled on the other side of Wilson, trying as she was to leech the heat out of him, since the fire wasn't forthcoming. Wilson didn't seem to mind too terribly, or if he did, he wasn't saying anything.

But Willow would rather have a hundred Raes over one Bakura—she'd rather be _doing_ something, anything. Not sulking, not worrying, not moping—she had had enough of that at Rae's cabin, waiting for Wilson and Yugi and Joey and Tristan and unable to do anything to help Yami.

She had solemnly sworn then and there: she would never be helpless again.

Granted, she reflected, she wasn't doing such a good job so far. Yugi had to rescue her from the Bearger, although she consoled herself with the thought that technically, she had returned the favor by helping him back from freezing to death. Except for the fact that when he was trapped in the lake, she had once again been helpless.

Well…the ice cavern. She had been instrumental, what with her lighter. Except she hadn't been able to do anything when faced with the Screecher, or the Deerclops. And she hadn't been able to do anything about the dragon, either—Rae had taken care of the Screecher and tried to talk down the dragon, and Yami had gotten them away from the Deerclops. Again, she had been able to do nothing.

She comforted herself with the reflection that at least she wasn't like Serenity, whom she didn't think had contributed much to the entire trip—and then reminded herself that Serenity could be dead in three days, if she wasn't already.

That made her cold. She wasn't about to wish death on _anybody_. And the thought that someone she _knew_ might be….Her eyes were beginning to hurt and her throat was getting sore. No. _No_. She was _not_ going to cry. Not here, not now. Crying hadn't helped the _last_ time—it didn't cause some magic what-have-you like in Cecelia's stories; it just made her nose runny and her throat hurt and her eyes freeze shut because really, crying was _not_ a cold-weather activity.

And yet she couldn't help the little sniffle that got out anyway, despite her best efforts.

Wilson wordlessly put an arm around her and pulled her close, doing the same to Yugi on the other side. Yugi reached over, squeezed her knee as Rae quietly took over fire-tending duties and Yami laid there, watching them with that mournful-dog expression, like he knew they were upset but didn't have the first clue as to how to make it better.

"We'll save them though, right?" Willow had to ask, _found_ herself asking before she could think about it.

The way Wilson twitched told her that she was the last person he expected such a question from—she was always the positive one, counterbalancing Yugi's worrying and caution to the point that she tended to be headstrong.

"Now, don't talk like that," Wilson said, tone comforting and mildly scolding. "We'll do fine, we always do. You just leave the worrying to me."

"You're going to kill yourself at that rate," Rae pointed out.

"You let _me_ worry about that."

"We'd need a miracle at this point," Bakura muttered.

Something in the slow way that Wilson looked at Bakura told Willow to pay strict attention.

"You're right," Wilson said. "We do need a miracle. And somehow, I don't doubt we might get one; I know _I've_ been doing plenty of praying. But we're also not going to get anywhere sitting on our duffs and just _hoping._ We can't be stupid and run around getting ourselves killed, either. We have to be smart about this. We have to do what we can, because even a miracle needs a hand."

"God helps those who help themselves," Rae added.

"So yes, this is terrible, and we're all miserable, and it seems like there's nothing we can do. But I'm not about to give up, and I'm not going to waste my energies mourning friends when there's still hope. I'm going to keep forging ahead, because that's how things get done, and I am _not_ willing to just lay down and _die_ here."

Silence followed.

"Wow," Yugi muttered. "That was…a lot more motivational than I'm used to from Wilson."

"I think someone replaced him," Willow said. "I'm not sure what to make of this relatively positive person."

"You two hush," Wilson chided, giving them both a one-armed hug. Willow returned it, feeling somewhat better than she had before. Yes, they were still in their dire straits, but they were going to _do_ something about it. And it felt nice knowing they had some more going for them than just _them_—not that she didn't think they could do it, but…she just felt better with that thought going for her.

Bakura eventually came over and sat by the fire.

"It's cold over there," he muttered, by way of explanation.

"Duh," Rae noised, rolling her eyes.

Willow smiled and snuggled against Wilson. And while she didn't fall asleep, what with how uncomfortable it was in that cave with the cold rocks and the small fire, she didn't feel restless anymore, either.

She didn't need to operate solely under her own power, she realized.

And that, more than anything else, enabled her to relax for the night.


	121. Murphy's Law

**Chapter 121, everybody! In which Murphy's Law is cited and the jerky makes a comeback….**

**Rae has a Jack London moment here as well—"To Build a Fire," which is one of his short stories I had to read for school. The guy dies in the story, which may explain Rae's reaction to a similarity to the story. D:**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Wow—send one over, stat! Yes…and yes…but here's hoping things improve soon. Good question….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, hug everybody—and maybe give Yami an air-hug. Yes, it doesn't seem to possess an evil, abusive spirit who wants to seal everybody away and murder the pharaoh either. True (like that FNaF thing—****_so_**** glad that finally petered out). Yes…that, and they didn't seem to spend enough time on each character (the kids and the Maserati(?) guy to me seemed the most compelling, and they're just sort of side-stories—actually, ****_everyone_**** seemed like side-stories). This is true. And that is true. And that is ****_very_**** true—I'm kind of dedicating this week to finishing up and posting a lot of art that's at the ****_almost done_**** phase in-between working on schoolwork and my stories (and yes, having a deadline does help—that's why they were invented).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**"****To Build a Fire" © 1908 Jack London (there are two versions, but the 1908 version is best-known)**

**How to Train Your Dragon ****© 2010 DreamWorks (Rae quotes Gobber near the end)**

They left very early in the morning, when the gloom had barely lifted. Granted, they couldn't afford to waste time, but the near-darkness still made things nerve-wracking in Yugi's opinion.

They definitely couldn't afford to waste time now that their progress was heavily slowed. With no sled and no snowshoes, traversing the snow became a hot, sweaty, and simultaneously freezing endeavor. Wilson was trying to figure out how to make something out of their meager supplies, and did manage to make _one_ pair of snowshoes from what was left in his backpack—his insistence on wearing it this whole time suddenly made sense to Yugi.

And so, it was Yami first, Wilson second, Bakura third, and Rae last, with Yugi and Willow in the middle, in a long line slowly trekking up the mountain spur Bakura was navigating them towards. Yami had declared that direction unsafe, but at the same time didn't dissuade them from it—instead, he stayed ahead of them, picking out the safest route possible for them to follow.

"I'm thinking about a break," Rae said, when the sun finally made itself known over the mountain. "Give the boys a chance to recover."

"_I'm_ fine," Wilson managed, hands on his knees and all but heaving—breaking their way through the snow had to have been exhausting work.

"I'm sure."

"I'm all for not waiting myself," Bakura said, pointing up the ridge. "We're almost there—we'll be able to see it as soon as we crest that."

"Wow," Willow noised. "The way the dragon sounded, you'd have thought it was on the other side of the world."

"You're complaining?" Yugi questioned.

"Well, _yeah—_if it's so close, why didn't the dragon take care of it?"

"Maybe he didn't know they were there."

"Or maybe whatever it is is equipped with anti-aircraft missiles," Rae put in.

"_Huh?"_

"Never mind."

"I say we keep going," Bakura insisted.

_"I_ say we don't," Rae countered. "And as I'm the one with the gun, it's my counsel we'll be heeding."

"Don't shoot him," Wilson managed, still sounding winded as he tried to wave that suggestion off. "If I die, I don't want it to be because of _him_."

"Gee thanks," Bakura groused.

Rae waved, redirecting their attention. "You say it's over that ridge? Fine. You kids wonder why the dragons couldn't get home on their own? It may be that someone is detaining them. You see where the sun is?" she pointed. "If we crest that ridge now, whoever's down there will have a _perfect_ view of us—we'd be sitting ducks."

"What's wrong with ducks sitting?" Yami asked.

"They're remarkably easy to shoot that way. Stopping to catch our breath isn't just sensible from a health perspective, it's sensible from a tactical perspective—which, by the way, is also good for our health."

"Agreed," Wilson said, straightening up and rolling his shoulders. "So, we wait. How long do you think it would take for the sun to move enough for us to proceed?"

Rae held up her gloved hand, traced a path from the sun to the ridge, biting her lip—kind of like how Wilson did, Yugi thought.

"Another hour, maybe," Rae said. "At the fastest."

Wilson nodded. "That was my figuring as well."

"So we stand here freezing," Bakura said, as Wilson unshouldered his backpack.

"I could set you on fire," Willow offered.

"Thanks, no."

"I wish some Lief's cousins were here," Yugi muttered.

"You _want_ angry grumpy trees around?" Rae asked.

"They'd make an impression on any bad guys."

"This is true."

"They won't come over this way," Yami supplied, thumping his fluffy tail once in frustration. "They won't tell me why."

"They don't like the dragon?" Rae asked.

"No, it's not that."

"How do you know if they won't tell you?"

"Because the wolves told me that some of Lief's cousins were on the dragon mountain."

"Dragons probably don't randomly go around burning forests for no reason, come to think of it."

"Have the wolves been over this way?" Willow asked.

Yami thought about this, folded his ears back. "No," he said. "They said a pack went missing this way a while back, and the wolves that went searching for them went missing too. After that, they avoided over here."

"Maybe the dragon ate them," Bakura said, looking cold and sour.

"They said the dragons don't eat wolves."

"I'm beginning to dislike this venture immensely," Wilson said, handing out pieces of jerky. "If there's something over there that eats dragons and wolves and scares walking pine trees…this will require more than our usual cunning." He offered a piece of jerky to Yami, who refused, shaking his head and making that vomit-face again.

"Cunning," Rae echoed after a moment of silence. "Is that what we've been doing all this time?"

"What would you call it then?"

"Sheer dumb luck."

"I'm noticing that Rae sounds an awful lot like Wilson," Yugi said to Willow. "In that she doesn't give anything we do any extra credit."

Willow nodded sagely. "That way, when things go right, she can look really impressive," she said.

"No," Rae said, pointing at them. "That's realistic. Murphy's Law dictates that anything that can go wrong, _will_ go wrong. We're just walking, talking examples of that."

"I don't think _everything_ has gone wrong," Yami said.

"Really," Bakura said flatly. "Name _one_ time."

Yami gave that some thought.

He smiled suddenly.

"Sitting by the fire, by the lake, and telling all those stories," Yami said. "And everyone had one, and they were all really good. That was a good day."

That was one of the days they had been stuck waiting for Yugi to thaw out, Yugi recalled.

"And before that, with Rae telling all those good stories, and cardinal-friend helping us, and all of Lief's cousins, and the wolves—we've had plenty of good times; it's just that the yucky times tend to stick out more," Yami said.

"This is true," Rae said, looking at her jerky with disgust. "For example: this is yucky jerky."

"It's been sitting at the bottom of my pack as emergency rations for well over a month now," Wilson pointed out. "What did you expect?"

"Uh huh," Rae noised, spitting it out—and then looking with alarm as the spit froze in the air. "Well…I'm done, at least. And we either need a fire or movement—I think we've stood around long enough."

"You'll starve."

"I'll take my chances."

Yugi gnawed on his own piece for a while before similarly giving up and tucking it into his pocket for later. Willow followed suit, to Wilson's disapproval, but he relented—he must have realized that Rae's spit freezing wasn't just from Yami being nearby; it was cold, and they couldn't afford to stay still for much longer.

And so, with the sun warming their backs a little, they continued up the mountain ridge.


	122. Summon The Storm

**Chapter 122, everybody! In which we make a reference way back to chapter 25, and Yami does his singing thing again….In other news, Krampus is an actual monster in ****_Don't Starve,_**** and will come to rob you blind if your "naughtiness level" gets too high, i.e., killing too many innocent animals at once. And then the ****_Krampus_**** movie comes out, and every time I see the commercials for it, I think "I ought to play some more ****_Don't Starve…."_**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, me too….I've had this particular arc planned for a while, so finally writing it is a teeny bit daunting and exciting. Me too—and me too. *-* Yes he is—pure as the driven snow. :D Yes he does—I don't think he's ever had cause to ever see otherwise. And perhaps—I'll have to draw it.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! (FanFiction, why am I having to look at my e-mails for this?). Good question—we shall soon find out! :D Kind of like air-high-fiving: you stop about a foot away from the person and still go through the gesture without touching them (spent the first two years of college at a co-ed college where we weren't allowed to touch the opposite gender, so there was a lot of this going on). The Millennium Ring waffles between being offended at the demotion and being glad that it's being portrayed in a more positive light. Ick. Get into ****_Don't Starve,_**** people! You've got the horror element without the awful jump scares and an adorable gentleman scientist to boot! Oh yes indeedy—that's why Bill Watterson focused on character-building and defining in ****_Calvin and Hobbes_**** (and why I spend so much time hashing out how the characters are in ****_Glint and the Pirates_****—most of it might never see the light of day, but it'll help with the story). Yes, progress! :D And that right there is what every college will tell you, from Full Sail helping you with writing to Northcentral telling you how to tackle your dissertation. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Frozen © 2013 Disney ("Beware the frozen heart….")**

**Josh Kirby, Time Warrior ****© 1995 Moonbeam Entertainment (Wilson's statement near the end is a reference to the fifth installment of the series)**

**Dragonkeeper ****© 2007 Carole Wilkinson (Yugi's comment near the end is a reference to a scene in the book)**

As it turned out, Rae's fears of having the sun to their backs were unfounded—it took them at least a couple more hours to reach the summit.

And when they did, and looked down into the next valley….

It was a castle.

An honest-to-goodness castle. Here, in the middle of nowhere.

They just stood there, in a line, digesting this impossibility, before Willow finally broke the silence.

"They put the mountain with the dragon on it right next to the castle," she said, voice dripping with disbelief.

Yugi didn't miss a beat. "That's because they had a bad civic planner."

They exchanged high-fives at that.

"Well, I'm glad someone's happy about this," Rae said. "I don't think we're far north enough for that to be Santa's workshop, and I don't think Santa would have a castle that looked that…evil."

Rae definitely had a point—the castle looked spiky, with sickly green streaks through the dark gray stones.

"Maybe that's Krampus' castle," Wilson suggested.

"Who?" Bakura asked.

"Like the antithesis of Santa Claus—steals your stuff if you've been naughty, and if you're exceptionally unfortunate, you as well."

"I always figured Krampus would be at the South Pole, though," Willow said. "Because of being Santa's opposite."

"Those poor penguins," Yugi said.

"Yeah."

Yugi looked to Yami, surprised he hadn't inquired as to the things they had been discussing, saw him with his head down and his fur up, wings half-mantled as he glared down into the valley. Yugi followed his glare—

And then looked up quickly.

"There's Screechers down there," he declared, detesting the squeak in his voice.

Wilson made a pensive noise. "Well, that answers _one_ question….Regrettably, it also raises a slew of others."

"Like how we get around them," Rae said, before looking at Bakura. "Please tell me we don't have to go to that castle."

"Funnily enough, that was what I was repeating under my breath," Bakura said, looking decidedly unhappy as he showed the Millennium Ring—all five prongs were pointing directly and unmistakably at the castle.

"Woo," Rae noised unenthusiastically, waving a fist around in mock-celebration. "So it's high noon, crystal-clear day, Screechers between us and a castle that probably has a ton of defenses we don't know about, and no cover between here and there. Anyone have any ideas?"

Silence.

"Don't all talk at once," Rae said.

"We'd have to wait until nightfall to have shade cover again," Wilson said, scratching his head. "And I am _not_ stumbling around in the dark and hoping we don't bump into a Screecher."

"We could roll down the hill and hide in the snowball we'd make," Willow suggested.

They looked at her.

"What?" she asked. "I didn't hear anyone else coming up with any bright ideas."

They had to concede that point.

"We could start an avalanche," Rae suggested, scratching her nose.

Yugi would rather avoid that, if possible, hunching against the stirrings of—

A storm? But it had been clear—

He turned to look at Yami.

Yami, meanwhile, had been pacing back and forth and in circles as they hashed out ideas, head low and swinging back and forth as he sang to himself under his breath and his tail swept the snow in metronome fashion. When Yugi looked at him, he had progressed to something approaching prancing, wings out and flapping, stirring the snow and whipping it into a frenzy as the others realized what was happening and quieted as they watched….

And then Yami was getting progressively louder as his actions became more forceful and the temperature became colder and the wind began howling and the clouds formed and became an angry gunmetal gray—

And then Yugi heard the song he was singing as he did a sort of leaping stomp, coming down forcefully with his front limbs and sending snow and ice into the air with every bar.

_"Stronger than one, stronger than ten, stronger than a hundred men—HRAH!"_

And then the snow started, sharp and stinging and laced with ice that cut like knives in the high winds.

"Great jumping _ions_," Wilson breathed finally. "He's created his own snowstorm."

_Snowstorm_ might have been a gross understatement, Yugi felt as he clung to Willow. This was a blizzard, an ice storm, the winter storm to end all winter storms. He felt a hand on his shoulder and hoped to high Heaven it was Wilson, because the snow was so thick he could hardly see Willow right in front of him—a Screecher could be standing right next to him and he'd never know.

And then the wind ceased somewhat, and Yugi looked to see Yami standing there, wings slightly outstretched to shield them from the wind.

"Did I do good?" he asked.

"You did just a mite too _well_," Wilson said, prompting Yugi to look—phew, it was him, plus Bakura and Rae. "We're going to need some temporary shelter while we regroup for our approach."

Yami ducked his head in a nod. "Okay—right over there."

They looked to see a little cave, just barely deep enough to provide some cover.

"Well, it's better than nothing," Wilson muttered. "Come on, let's get out of this storm."

They did so, squishing into the cave, Wilson immediately pulling his backpack off and rooting through it.

"I swear I have some rope in here," he muttered, digging through. "We're going to need to tie ourselves together so we don't get lost."

Yugi was certain he'd find it eventually. For the moment, he had to stare at the storm with Willow, sharing the moment of awe.

"You made it snow, Yami," Yugi said finally, feeling a mite overwhelmed.

The Frost King _could_ cause cold weather. He had whipped up a snowstorm, just because they needed one for cover. It wasn't like at Frostmore, when his presence simply caused the cold. He had willingly and purposely summoned the storm. He had _summoned_ the storm.

Yugi had the feeling Yami could not be classified as a baby Frost King any longer.


	123. Hitting a Wall

**Chapter 123, everybody! What a nice number! :D And with this chapter, this story breaks 400 pages. Woot! :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, it is a bit out of the blue—it's been there from the beginning of my scripting for this, though, so it's not just something I tossed out to keep the story going (I've read stories where it's felt like that). It ties into a certain something that occurred earlier….Definitely a worse enemy…and maybe. Yes indeed—and yes, indeed, literally. :D Me too….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Me too, but we shall soon find out! I know, stupid computer…at least it's not just me (technology hates me). Oops. But on the bright side, I wrote to FanFiction, and the issue is hearby resolved (at least for me it is). Saying that, congrats on the 175th review! :D No, nowhere near as fun….Because the college administration was from the 1850s and thought that if you touched a guy even in passing, children occurred (they were a good chunk of the inspiration for the Administrators over in _The Magicians' Realm_, to be honest). It does enjoy the positive connotations****….****Yeah…wait, did you get _Don't Starve?_ Yes, it's hard to knuckle down and say _I'm getting this done_, but it's a good skill to have—putting off something you want to do seems to help a little, but overdoing it tends to cause stress, and we don't want _that_ (saying that, I've found there's a fine line between not taxing yourself and being lazy…which reminds me, I have stuff to do D: ).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Mulan © 1998 Barry Cook; Tony Bancroft; Disney ("Nice, _very_ nice. You can sit with _me._")**

They waited until the snow died down from biting to drifting before going down the mountain, tied together in a long line by Wilson's rope. That way, they wouldn't lose each other—or, you know, walk around believing they were following a member of their own party until it turned around and showed itself to be a Screecher. That would suck.

Yami was bounding in a continuous oval around them, scanning for any danger. On the positive side, the snow fog would keep them safe from anything that nasty-looking castle could throw at them—can't hit what they can't see, Rae had said.

Unfortunately, that meant that a Screecher could sneak up on them, no problem.

At least, that was Yugi's major worry—right up until they ran into a Screecher.

Wilson, in the lead, had spotted it first, called for Rae—bringing up the rear—to come forward—

"I shoot it and we lose the element of surprise," she told him upon spotting it, sighting down her Night Judge as she did so.

"I know," Wilson said soberly. "But we can't…."

Yugi and Willow looked at him sharply, at the weird way he had trailed off, and then as he reached out and pulled Rae's arms down.

"Yami," Wilson said. "Is that a problem?"

Yami paused to look ahead.

"No," he said firmly. "That's not a problem."

Wilson scowled in the way he did when he got the answer to a question and wasn't sure if he liked it or not, marched forward, forcing them to follow when the rope went taut….

They approached it, stopped, stunned….It was a Screecher. Frozen solid.

"Nice," Rae noised, looking at Yami as Bakura whistled appreciatively. _"Very_ nice. You can stay with _me."_

Yami bobbed his head happily at that as they wended around the Screecher-cicle and aimed for the castle, following the points of Bakura's Ring.

Yugi, meanwhile, had a minor concern eating at the back of his head. Whipping up storms, freezing things solid—Yami was becoming the monster the adults had always painted him to be.

Except at the same time, he couldn't see it. Yami was being more serious, yes, but that was because this was serious business—he was still _their_ Yami, not the evil monster that the people of Frostmore had long thought him to be. And they were going to get to the bottom of this, and they were going to save the day, and then Yugi could tell Willow all the not-so-quiet doubts he had and they could laugh at them and they'd be safe stop panicking, _stop panicking._

"Stop panicking," Willow said, tapping him on the shoulder. "We're doing fine."

And then they reached the sheer wall.

"This is a lot more yucky-looking up close," Willow observed, as Bakura took point and led them to a door. Yugi nodded assent, glanced at Yami as Bakura set to picking the lock—

Took a double-take at the way Yami was shaking his head and pawing at it.

"What's the matter, Yami?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know," Yami replied, shaking his head so hard that Yugi could hear his ears flap against the scalp. "It's like…like my head is all fuzzy…."

Yugi looked at Willow, concerned.

"Maybe he wore himself out," Willow posited. "Like when Wilson works too hard on no sleep. We don't know how much work is involved with summoning a storm and freezing Screechers."

Yugi had to agree—except he was feeling a muted buzzing as well. He glanced back at the wall—the sickly green that he had thought was maybe moss from afar showed itself to be green crystals up close, glowing softly and eerily in the gloom. It made him uneasy, to tell the truth.

He wasn't the only one, either—no one seemed willing to touch the wall.

Bakura swore.

"What?" Wilson asked, testily.

Bakura glared at him, flexing his fingers. "Nothing. My hands are cold. It's hard to pick a lock when your hands are cold."

Yugi felt a flare of impatience, but squashed it—being impatient was _not_ going to get them in the door.

Willow snorted and strode forward, pulling her lighter out as she did so.

"Show me your hands," she ordered.

Bakura stared at her. "You're not going to set me on fire, are you?"

"I want to, but that's not helpful." She clicked her lighter, bringing the little flame to life. "Now warm your hands up."

Bakura rapidly started rubbing his hands over the tiny fire. And as he did so, Yugi noted that Willow's expression went from testy to back to her old self—the fire must be making her feel better, he thought.

Wilson and Rae scrunched together against the wind, radiating impatience.

"You're in my personal space," Rae informed him.

"So are you," Wilson snapped back.

Yugi blinked—that was…odd.

The wind started up again, and Yugi squished closer to the wall to avoid it, still avoiding touching the nasty thing. Ugh, what was taking so long? It didn't take _that_ long to get warm, did it?

"Better?" Willow asked, alerting him to the fact that Bakura was flexing his fingers again.

"Better," Bakura admitted, turning back to the lock. "You, friend, are going _down."_

Willow nodded brightly and went to stand next to Yugi, holding her lighter between them.

"You mind not holding that so close?" Yugi asked.

"You never minded before," Willow said.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to get set on fire."

"I'm not going to set you on fire."

Something was whistling—like wet wood on a fire. "Yeah, well, there's always a first time."

"Since when are you so grouchy?"

"I just don't want to get burned!"

"We've known each other our entire lives! I've _never_ burned you! What's _with_ you!?"

"Oh, will you two _shut up!?"_ Wilson snapped. "It's bad enough being out here freezing without hearing you two _whine!"_

Willow flinched, expression as she looked at Wilson as stunned as Yugi felt—that was…not Wilson-ish. And come to think of it, Yugi's belligerence was _not_ Yugi-ish—

And just as that occurred to him, the whistling reached a pitch—

And then something went _pow!_—like a gun going off.

Rae evidently thought so too, if the way she went down was any indication.

Wilson, however, was staring at the source, prompting Yugi to too.

It was one of the green crystals—except it wasn't green anymore. It looked like…like….

Wilson crouched to pick at it better. "Charcoal," he declared, examining his gloved hand. "But…."

The way Wilson blinked told Yugi that something had occurred to the gentleman scientist. He turned to Rae.

"How are you feeling?" Wilson demanded.

Rae looked at him. "Huh?"

Wilson was already reaching up, using his penknife to separate a still-glowing crystal from its moorings and hold it near her. "How about now?"

"Why's it so important to you, dunce?"

"I'm not a dunce, you—"

And then Wilson shook his head and flung the crystal away. Rae started blinking owlishly.

"Whatever this is," Wilson said slowly, taking a step back to examine the wall better. "It must mess with the electrical impulses in the brain somehow—make people…."

He stopped and looked at Willow; Yugi followed suit.

Willow was quietly crying, trying very hard to look like she wasn't, and looking angry at herself as she tried very hard not to cry.

"I…oh Willow, I'm sorry," Wilson said, crouching in front of her and putting a hand to her shoulder. "I…I should have figured this out sooner. Some…creatures," he continued, glancing at Yami, who was eyeing where the crystal had fallen, fur on end. "Are more sensitive to their surroundings…I should have seen something. Can you forgive me?"

"Yeah," Willow sniffed, rubbing her face.

"Me too?" Yugi asked.

"_You_ I ought to set on fire."

"I'd deserve it."

"You would."

"Now stop it you two," Wilson chided, back to normal. "Besides, Willow, you have saving us to hold over our heads."

"I do?" Willow asked blankly.

In response, Wilson tapped the charcoal. "Whatever this _was_, it can't handle continued exposure to fire—you frying it saved us from continued exposure."

"That was terrible," Rae noised. "I felt like I had a headache…a mean one. Like…ah…well, I get one every month."

"I've heard of that," Wilson said. "It seems to be a common feminine plague."

"That's one way to put it."

Willow, meanwhile, seemed brighter for hearing that she had saved them. Yugi tapped her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Willow, I really am. Am I forgiven?" he asked.

"I guess so," she said, smiling. "It's not your fault you all went loopy. And you people can never question my love of fire ever again."

"I won't say a word," Wilson solemnly swore.

"Well, if you all are done," Bakura said, redirecting their attention. He shoved the door open. "We're in."


	124. Dartz

**Chapter 124, everybody! In which things happen and our intrepid heroes are chased by hairy things….Which gives us yet another ****_Don't Starve_**** reference: the hounds. D:**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, exactly! And yes he is—maybe that, and maybe a bit of having to step up to the plate instead of gleeking about in the snow all day. Yes, at least there's that….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! That's no excuse! Well, yes it is—weekend decompression is very important. Yes it did, oddly enough….And yes, at least there's that—whenever something goes sideways with a website or anything, I try to contact the people in charge. It's worked quite well so far. Yes it is! This one and ****_The Magicians' Realm_****—that one's already reached the same number of reviews that ****_CAD_**** did, and at half the chapters, weirdly enough. Yes, I'm pretty sure there's more involved before the stork comes visiting, but there's no reasoning with some people (they also saw fit to edit books and thought knees were terrible things, so…). Yes, appreciate the good publicity! Birthday presents are always a good approach (or Christmas presents, if closer—that was how I asked for ORAS and how I'm planning on asking for ****_Sun/Moon_****—although ****_Kingdom Hearts III_**** is going to have to be pitched as New Year's ^^). Same here—better spoiled than disappointed. You're going to have a long, healthy life then (stress kills). I used to procrastinate—and then I found out that I have more fun not doing so (and my parents don't get as frustrated with me ^^). Yes it does—at least I've gotten a bit of steam built up…which may be part of the problem, considering ****_Morrowind_**** is demanding my free time….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**The Hobbit ****© 1937 JRR Tolkien (and, I suppose, the 1977 Rankin-Bass version as well, since I had looked up the soundtrack recently)**

**Jurassic Park © 1993 Steven Spielberg (I was listening to the soundtrack when I wrote this, so Ian's quip makes its way into here)**

The castle wasn't any less foreboding on the inside than it was on the outside.

The torch sconces (which Rae had been nice enough to identify when Yugi had called them torch holders) were _way_ up the tall walls and the high vaulted ceilings, the stone was still that yucky green-streaked gray, and the rug running down the bare hall was the color of dried blood. Yugi was firmly of the opinion that the person who lived here was not nice, at _least_.

Bakura was now firmly in point—this was his forte, sneaking and stealing. Well, liberating—Yugi wasn't certain about the feasibility of stealing a dragon, especially if it was as big as the other one. And if it weren't for the Millennium Ring, they would all be _hopelessly_ lost—this place was _huge_.

There was still that nasty prickling feeling at the back of Yugi's mind, but it was muted now—a combination of being aware of the effect of that stuff and Willow refusing to put her lighter away. It still made Yugi feel like he needed a _major_ bath, though.

And there were _things_ patrolling the halls, too. Not nice things either. They looked like people shambling along in dark fur—initially, Yugi had thought they were Screechers. But they weren't, they were weird, and fortunately they didn't look their way when they crossed through the side halls. The Millennium Ring was apparently instrumental here, as Bakura would always stop them before the things appeared—not only was it a dowsing device, but it was also an early-warning system, it seemed. It didn't help his nerves, though.

Yugi was almost grateful for what happened next—the long, silent stretch with all those near-misses had been wearing on his nerves and scaring him worse than something happening would.

At the same time, he was _not_ thrilled with the prospect that occurred.

Wilson had heard it first. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Rae asked, gun ready.

But Yami had heard it too, whatever it was, ears pricked and ready, head up and scanning—

And then the first of the scratchy black things came barreling around the corner, baying as they ran towards them. Yami spun, snarling, slammed down on the ground hard and freezing the first few in place—

It took Yugi a few moments to recognize the things as wolves. Or at least, that was what they _had_ been—their bodies were now twisted and swollen and covered in coarse black fur, eyes a sickly glowing green and sightless-looking, a mockery of the real thing—

And then more were coming, and everyone was busy for the next few moments, Yami freezing them, Wilson with his spear, Rae with her Night Judge picking them off before they could get too close.

But the noise had attracted attention, and now they were in trouble—the furry things were after them, humanoid in appearance but bestial in behavior. They ran, Bakura still trying to steer them towards the dragons, Yugi and Willow trying to keep up with their short legs—one got too close and Willow set it on fire.

But there were too many, and more were coming….

They were overwhelmed.

* * *

The furry things smelled horrible, Yugi noted.

It was kind of hard to avoid noticing, as he was currently being carried over the thing's shoulder with his face to its back. Ew. He wondered if the hobbit in Cecelia's one story felt this way when being kidnapped by goblins. Probably not, considering how silent these things were. Unnervingly so—Yugi wasn't even certain they were _breathing_.

He had long ago lost track of how many turns they had made, but it felt like they were getting deeper into the castle. Rae had long ago swore herself hoarse, calling these things every name under the sun. Yugi had learned more than one new word today, something he was sure would not thrill Wilson.

Yami had been tied up and was currently being dragged along, the things adding new ropes constantly to replace the ones that iced over and broke. If Yugi turned his head, he could see the line of frost wending away, ice skittering up the sides nearly to the torch sconces. Okay, so maybe he _could_ find his way back out, if need be. It'd just be mighty slippery.

And then he heard something that sounded like a _huge_ door being opened—

"What do they have in there?" Rae asked—the angle she was being carried at allowed her to see forward. "King Kong?"

Yugi saw the big thick doors as they passed by—

And then he was flung unceremoniously to the ground. Ow. And then Willow on top of him.

"I think I landed on my keys," Yugi muttered, squirming so Willow would get off of him. She did so, hauled him to his feet—the things were still there. And restraining the adults—rough hands seized Yugi and held him still.

"Well, I _do_ commend you for coming this far—and thank you as well; this saves me the trouble of having to prove to your uncle you are truly dead this time."

Yugi froze, struggled to stand before Willow protectively, gave up fighting the things as they turned to face the new voice—

It was just some guy. Yugi was mildly disappointed—he had actually been hoping for a goblin. Granted, said guy had green hair and white robes and one green eye and one yellow eye and looked like he hadn't seen sun in _years_…probably taller than Wilson.

But there was something about this guy, the air he put off—it was unnerving. Every fiber in Yugi's being instantly recoiled from the man.

Especially when he noted that the sleek white wall crisscrossed with chains he was walking by wasn't a wall—it was the side of a dragon, snarling weakly at him.

"You have an uncle that wants you dead?" Willow asked Yugi in an undertone.

Yugi pictured the guy with the eye, Akenhadin. "Honestly, I don't doubt it," he told her, before trying to put on a brave front. "Who are you?" he demanded of the man, trying not to squeak.

"A good question," Wilson said, still struggling against the things holding him. "Although more pressing to me would be why you're messing about with Screechers, whoever you are."

"Such excellent questions," the man said, walking around them. "And ones I will answer in due time. Ask as many as you wish, and I will do my best to answer you."

"How nice of you," Wilson said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Well then," Rae noised, the most disheveled of all of them. "How about this: why don't you go kill yourself? Save us the trouble."

"Aren't you charming," the man noised drily. "And no, I will not."

He finally came to a halt in front of Yami. "And you," he said, still in that sickening conversational tone. "So this is what happened to you. Dissecting you will be absolutely _fascinating."_

Yami snarled angrily around the ropes, frost spreading weakly—the flame that always burned from his forehead was beginning to have green flecks within the blue.

Yugi, meanwhile, was startled by the statement—this guy _knew_ Yami?

And then he turned to face them.

"My name is Dartz," the man said. "And this will be the last day you ever see."


	125. The Villainous Monologuing

**Chapter 125, everybody! Which is late at night for me, but combination "school taking precedence" and "watching ****_Max_**** with the family" made it so. On the plus side, had half of this already written, and now have half of the next chapter written, so we're getting somewhere. :D**

**And on the topic of this chapter….I was all geared to have everyone be all ****_oh no, bad guy, we're in trouble_****—and instead they all decide to be ****_snarky_****. On the positive side, more fun to write. :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes! And yes—and…I don't know. Yes…but perhaps he knows how he got there….Me too—and I hope not! That would be awful! D:**

**Miqu, thanks for the review! Now that you mention it…I think a windigo might have been part of Yami's inspiration—I ****_know_**** I read about it on Wikipedia once (although now I hear about it I think of the TV show ****_Sleepy Hollow_**** and ****_The Lone Ranger_**** movie). On the positive side, Yami's fluffy and fortunately doesn't eat people—although now, reading your review, having them worry about that would have been ****_perfect._**** Darn those missed opportunities. T-T But at least it gets a mention now. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, isn't it? Get better ones—the Internet might be helpful. Yes—to paraphrase my parents, it always filters down from the top. Yes…although this one might be the perfect example of plugging away, as favorites didn't start to pick up until around Wilson's story (on that note, congrats on review #180). Too true, too true….Ooh, have a nice trip! ^^/ Same here—I started to do that with ****_Don't Starve_****, but managed to stop myself enough to say "well it looks interesting enough—let me see if I can buy it….Steam sale? ****_Mom? Can I spend ten dollars?"_**** But if you do it, they will come—not sure who they are, but they ****_will_**** come….It is—momentum helps. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Skullduggery Pleasant Series © 2007 Derek Landy (Wilson's quote comes from the second book in the series)**

**The Incredibles © 2004 Brad Bird; Pixar ("You had me monologuing!")**

**Calvin and Hobbes ****© 1985 Bill Watterson (Rae quotes Hobbes there)**

Yugi decided that was probably going to be as sucky as that sounded.

"Wow," Rae drawled, sounding in charge despite still being restrained and outnumbered. "Real full of yourself, aren't you? Why don't you have these goons let me go and we go a few rounds? See who comes out aces?"

"Such coarse behavior," the man named Dartz said. "Why would I bother with such a thing?"

"You're going to bother monologuing."

"Trust me when I say that I am comfortable in my success."

"Please. You play around with Screechers—I wouldn't trust you if you said water was wet."

"Well, since you intimated you would talk us to death," Wilson said, giving Rae a sharp glance. "Why don't you start from the top? What are those green gems, what is your stake in all this, why do you want us dead, what do you need with dragons…." His eyes narrowed. "And what, precisely, do you gain from driving creatures mad?"

Yugi stared at Wilson for a moment before it clicked. The beargers, the Deerclops, the dragon, the monster-wolves…their eyes were all that same nasty green, the same as the crystals that made their group go nuts. The green flecks in Yami's flame—it was starting to affect him too, whatever it was.

"Mr. Higgsbury," Dartz said, still with his hands behind his back. "Always wanting to know more. Yes, I know who you are," he said, in response to their stunned looks. "I know who all of you are—even you, Miss Dunway, despite your attempts to fly under the proverbial radar. I've been monitoring you all for quite some time. You've caused Akenhadin—and by extension, myself—quite a spot of bother."

"Don't I feel special," Rae said sardonically. "So why don't you go on and tell us how smart you are, while we all just quietly figure you're overcompensating for something."

Bakura snorted, while Dartz simply scowled at her.

"We're waiting," Willow said.

"Maybe he really _is_ hoping to bore us to death," Yugi said.

"He's doing a good job."

"I'm not surprised at all," Dartz said, finally sounding like he had some emotion—irritation. "Even in the face of death, you lot are sarcastic and disrespectful. I really shouldn't have expected anything else."

"And yet you went and got your hopes up anyway," Rae said, laughter edging her voice.

"I take comfort in the fact that these are the last futile struggles of dead men."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night. So why don't you answer our dear Mr. Higgsbury's questions, hmm? Inquiring minds want to know."

"And can I have my lighter back?" Willow asked.

Dartz sort of sagged and sighed. "It's hard to do the gloating villain speech under these conditions."

"So you admit your duplicitous deeds," Rae said.

"We could pretend to be intimidated," Yugi offered.

"It just wouldn't be the same," Dartz sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, get on with it then," Bakura said. "Some of us _do_ have better things to do. And I'm getting tired of smelling these things—a dead cat smells better."

Dartz glared at him. "Those _things_, as you so coarsely describe them, are the results of the power of the Aurechalcos!"

"Oh good, we're getting somewhere," Rae said, gesturing slightly to Wilson, who gave as much of a _what can you do_ gesture as he could. "So what's this orange-talcum stuff?"

"Keep being insulting, and I'll just kill you and be done with it."

"Proceed," Rae said drily, waving her hand.

"Thank you," Dartz said huffily, straightening his sleeves. "To start from the top, to use your rudimentary colloquial, 'those green gems' are the Aurechalcos. It long ago descended from the skies to grant the Atlanteans great knowledge and power—"

"Wait, Atlanteans?" Wilson interrupted. "Like Atlantis? The kingdom that was supposed to have sunk beneath the ocean?"

"Yes. Now are you going to let me continue?"

"Time out," Rae said, putting her hands into a T-shape. "When we said start from the top, we didn't mean give us your life story. Get to the part that actually concerns _us_."

Despite the tense situation, Yugi couldn't help but laugh as Dartz slapped a hand to his face.

Wilson seemed similarly aggravated. "The _idea_," he said, slowly and deliberately. "Was to get him monologuing and give the rest of us enough time to come up with a decent plan. _This_ is not _that."_

"It was taking too long!" Rae protested. "I got bored!"

"_Enough!"_ Dartz snapped. "It's no wonder the Royals find you so infuriating!"

"Aw, you make me blush."

"Cracked like an egg," Willow opined, grinning.

"But don't worry—I'm sure there's someone out there who finds you terribly intimidating," Rae continued conversationally. "It's just our fault for being—what was it he said, Wilson?"

"Coarse, sarcastic, disrespectful," Wilson listed, ticking them off on his fingers. "And you know what? Forget you monologuing—I think I've figured this out. You and Akenhadin are in cahoots. Akenhadin gains the throne, and you gain…what, pray tell? Power? And I'm sure you fancy yourself some sort of sorcerer—you're mistaking the effects these gems have on the electrical impulses of the mind for quote-unquote 'magic.' You're driving animals crazy and letting them loose, you've captured these dragons thinking they have some 'magic powers' that'll give you an extra boost, and you're probably hoping we believe enough superstitious claptrap to _fall_ for your charlatan activities."

"Wow," Rae noised when he finished. "Science really _does_ take all the fun out of the portent business."

Dartz, meanwhile, had crossed his arms. "Ironically, Mr. Higgsbury, Akenhadin accuses _you_ of sorcery."

"The mark of an uneducated man," Wilson retorted. "But what separates me from you is the fact that what I do actually has _basis_ in the scientific field, rather than grubbing around with bright lights and hoping someone falls for it."

Yugi noted that Dartz' neck was beginning to color—good; Yugi was beginning to be worried that he was a vampire or something like that.

"Be funny," Dartz hissed. "But know that _I_ will have the last laugh."

A door opened and more things came in, hauling a cage forward. The things holding Willow stepped forward, dragging her along.

"Those creatures your people made are _quite_ interesting," Dartz continued, indicating the cage. "But I thought they could use some improvement."

The things standing in front of the cage stepped to the side, revealing a Screecher. But unlike the ones previously, this one was purple, shaggier…_meaner_-looking, with sickly green sightless orbs and green erupting from a carving in its forehead. It spotted them, by whatever means a Screecher_ could_ spot something—

And then instead of its beak opening into a terrible maw, its _stomach_ split, and a huge mouth came from its ribs and hips as it bent backwards horribly—

"You made it _worse,"_ Rae said slowly, sounding strained. "You took something that was already horrible and you made it _worse. What's wrong with you!?"_

"Isn't _science_ experimentation?" Dartz asked, waving. "As for your so-called 'frost king'—_very_ intriguing, and not what I expected. Reminds me of the old stories of the wendigo—perhaps I'll force-feed him one of you, complete the whole thing. Or maybe the Aurechalcos will make him—animals and other such lesser beings tend to go savage when exposed."

The dragon snarled, punctuating that statement.

"Now," Dartz continued. "I think we'll feed little Willow to the new and improved Screecher—"

_"NO!"_ Yugi yelled, trying to fight his way forward—he wasn't the only one who yelled, either: Wilson had snapped too, losing his composure and struggling forward.

_"You want to hurt someone? Hurt me!"_ Wilson yelled.

"That's the idea," Dartz said. "But maybe, _maybe_ if you beg for your life, I'll let you go first, save you the pain of seeing her die. Or maybe a shard of this through your eye," he added, holding up a sharp green sliver. "Burn your brain from the inside out—someone like you wouldn't be able to accept the Aurechalcos, and the ones it rejects…." Dartz nodded at the furry things as he trailed off, causing Yugi's stomach to turn—these things had been _people?_

"So, Mr. Higgsbury," Dartz said, grabbing Wilson by the jaw. "What will it be?"

Yugi kind of hoped Wilson would spit in his face—even though that was less Wilson and more Rae's style. Or some nice, science-y comeback, something pithy—oh please, Wilson, don't let this be it—

Instead, Wilson smiled blandly at Dartz.

"I read this once in a book," Wilson said, careful emphasis on each word. "And I think it applies _mightily_ here: 'surely _you_ of all people would recognize a feint when you see one.'"

And then the dragon snarled again—

Followed by a different snarl.

Yami.

Yugi looked, as did everyone—

The things that had been restraining Yami were frozen solid, arms and ropes broken and on the ground.

The chains holding the dragon were frozen solid and broken on the ground too.

Yami was standing there, facing Dartz and snarling, wings half-spread and fur bristling, no longer looking so ridiculous with his one antler, blue flame still flecked with green—

And behind him, rearing up, was the white dragon, eyes similarly flecked.

And she was _mad._

"I daresay," Wilson drawled evenly. "That you have bigger problems at the moment."


	126. Dragon's Deal

**Chapter 126, everybody! And it's done ahead of time for once! Le gasp! And a good thing, too, as the weather finally broke and it's 90 degrees and sunny. Yay for us, bad for motivation on ****_The Frost King_****. But we will prevail!**

**Ah, and I didn't mention this before, but the purple Screecher comes from an image that popped up when I Google searched _Don't Starve_. Rae's reaction last chapter was my reaction exactly: _"How_ could you make it _worse!?"_**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Mwahaha, yes they did—success. :D Well, Miqu's review really describes it well, and Rae will be describing it a little later, but the long and short of it is that a wendigo is a humanoid creature with deer antlers that eats people. D: No—I think Dartz is going to regret not feeding mama dragon. :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Mwaha, yes! Just get them talking long enough, and something good is bound to happen! :D True…just keep working at it—it's there! It has to be! This is true—although ****_CAD_**** updated three times a week as opposed to twice a week….Maybe because ****_The Frost King_**** has been at it longer?...I might remember then—or I might be rereading reviews and go "Oh yeah…." Well, to be fair, you kind of need the wikia handy to survive ****_Don't Starve_****—otherwise, be prepared for Wilson dying many, ****_many_**** times. Mwaha, success! And here I thought it was just cute….Oh—Mom was looking at an article on Australia, and she wanted me to ask you how you manage to survive all those things out to eat you. Thus, I ask (and come to think of it, surviving everything in that article might just make you a dab hand at ****_Don't Starve…_****).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Skulduggery Pleasant Series © 2007 Derek Landy ("Well, that was bracing")**

**Dragon's Deal © 2010 Robert Asprin &amp; Jody Lynn Nye (the chapter title comes from there)**

The dragon opened her maw, showing white sparks building in the back of her throat—

But before anyone could react, Yami was charging forward, slamming into Dartz and sending him sliding away from Wilson. The green sliver flew, hit the ground and shattered.

The furry things made uncertain noises, prompting Yugi to realize that they had no idea what to do without Dartz giving the orders—

Which meant that Yami wasn't impeded when he slammed into the first one holding Willow and then frosted the second. He galloped over, gave the two holding Yugi the same treatment, skidded to a halt next to him as Willow ran over and Yugi struggled to his feet—

"Did you guys plan that?" Yugi asked, noticing that Rae had somehow feinted and pulled her Night Judge on the things holding Wilson—

"Plan. Right," Yami heaved. "That might have been good to have."

Despite the fact that they were in some immediate danger, Yugi _had_ to exchange a disbelieving glance with Willow as Yami ran to help the others.

"I take back what I said about useless adults," Willow said.

"Wilson will be glad to hear that," Yugi agreed.

Dartz, meanwhile, had gotten enough of his breath back.

"What are you waiting for?" he yelled. _"Attack!"_

The furry things charged—

Which was when the dragon decided to unleash her breath attack.

The effect was weaker than the one on the mountain, but worse for the enclosed space—Yugi and Willow dove for cover as the light blinded them—

Yugi heard something move above them as the light faded, looked to see—

The purple Screecher.

Oh no.

It ripped open in that horrible way again, revealing those ugly tearing teeth—

And then Yami slammed into it with such force that he lost his other antler and went skidding.

The Screecher made a garbled noise, attempted to recover from the antler stabbed down its maw—

And then the tip of the dragon's tail caught it full across its body, and there was a nasty squelching noise as it struck the far wall with such force that it turned into paste.

Yugi dragged Willow upright—or maybe she was dragging him, it was hard to tell at this point—as Dartz ran for them, sword drawn—

And then Yami was right there as Wilson grabbed Willow and Bakura grabbed Yugi and they bolted—Yami was snarling at Dartz and sending ice skittering everywhere, making Dartz slip—

And then he was running, as the dragon was after him, ran down a hall—

The dragon bent down, unleashed another one of her lightning breaths after him before bellowing down the tunnel. If Dartz survived _that…_Yugi didn't know. He'd eat his penguin hat, maybe. But then again, if Dartz was a magic-man…maybe settle for eating ten pounds of that nasty jerky.

And then it was quiet, and Yugi was aware of Rae coming over, reloading her gun and kicking a few of the things for good measure.

"I know what book you were quoting," Rae said, grinning as she pointed at Wilson. "And if you don't mind me continuing the theme: 'well, _that_ was bracing.'"

"If any of those books you have are from the _Starchaser_, then that doesn't surprise me," Wilson said. "I think I read every book on board at least once."

"How interesting—something else we have in common."

Yugi wondered what the other things were, but considering he wasn't in immediate danger anymore….

"Uh, you can put me down now," he said, tapping Bakura's arm. Bakura obliged by dropping him quickly.

The moment Yugi connected with the ground, he ran over to where Yami was shaking his head and pawing at it—Yugi had _not_ liked how bad he had sounded, and the implications Dartz had insinuated. "Yami! Are you okay?"

"No," Yami groaned, pressing his face to the ice. "My head hurts."

"Here," Willow said, prompting Wilson to put her down before running over, digging in her pockets. "Not here—where—ah!"

She stomped on a piece of ice that might have been part of one of the things, shattered it, reached down and pulled up her lighter before running back over and flicking it into life.

"Here," she said, holding it close to Yami's face.

Yami flinched away—probably not good, just like the way his flame was green now wasn't good—but shook his head, blinked owlishly at the flame before staring at it, eventually relaxing and regaining his curious air as his flame changed from green back to blue.

"I saved everyone's life again," Willow said primly.

"I'm pretty sure you weren't the only one," Yugi pointed out.

"Don't ruin my moment."

"Right."

"Well, we've found one dragon—that's the good news," Rae said as the adults picked their way over to them. "The bad news is: this that I have in here?" She hefted her Night Judge. "That's all the bullets I have left."

There was a moment when everyone stared at her.

"Seriously?" Willow asked finally—Yugi could understand why; Rae's supply seemed inexhaustible.

"Seriously," Rae said, putting her gun up. "So please tell me there's not a lot of monsters between us and getting out of here."

"Well," Bakura hedged.

And then the dragon was looming over them, eyes still flecked with green. Willow held her lighter up higher, utterly fearless of those teeth as big as she was.

"The little frost creature told me," she said—definitely a she, the voice had a feminine tone. "That you were here at my mate's behest, to save myself and my hatchlings. Is this true?"

"Yes," Yugi said, deciding that mentioning that her mate was going to kill their friends if they were too late probably wouldn't be helpful. Any hesitation on his part came from figuring out that _little frost creature_ was Yami—yes, he supposed Yami was small compared to her.

The dragon narrowed her eyes at them for the longest time before nodding.

"Find them then," she ordered. "I will take care of those in the way."

Yugi finally exhaled. Oh good—big scary dragon wasn't going to eat them.

Rae, Wilson, and Bakura exchanged glances. Rae finally shrugged.

"Well, _I'll_ take it," she said, before clapping Bakura on the back. "Lead on, James."


	127. The Dragonets

**Chapter 127, everybody! Which I also had written ahead, so win. :D Now off to find the baby dragons!**

**I looked it up, by the way, and "Kismet" apparently means "fate." Make of it what you will.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes it is! And yes, he's even now….Aaah! How will he ever impress a Frost Queen now? D: I'm now imagining him singing Tigger's song (****_"I'm the only one!"_****). Yes! Fear the combined might of the large dragon and the little frost creature! :D Hopefully—but as Rae constantly says, we can't be that lucky….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, I do doubt that they'll get out of this scot-free….Yes they did. And yes—really should stop scratching my head over it and just accept it as a good thing. Yes, life does happen between now and then….It does—especially when you encounter an animal in-game and go "I wonder if it's friendly!" Just assume that everything in ****_Don't Starve_**** is out to kill you (to the point that when I found the Eyebone and saw Chester boinging towards me, I took off running). Mwaha, success. :D Ah, I remember the "cloudy with a chance of spiders" forecast….Knock the poison off of that and you've got here (Dad recently shot the head off a snake that was a good inch in diameter—and then our dog used it as a chew toy). Let's see…crabs the size of Labrador Retrievers, earthworms the size of snakes, saltwater crocodiles washing in with the rain, spiders of all shapes and sizes, and overly-friendly plague-clouds of flies (Mom called me in on the crabs because of how huge they were). Yes, from the sounds of it, you'd be right at home in ****_Don't Starve_****….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**The Cloud Roads © 2011 Martha Wells ("We're not leaving without Bitter!")**

**The Black Gryphon © 1994 Mercedes Lackey &amp; Larry Dixon (the name Kechara comes from there)**

**Dragonheart © 1996 Rob Cohen ("Meet Kara")**

**Guardians of Ga'Hoole ****© 2003 Kathryn Lasky (the tongue-thing is based off of one of the eagles in the series)**

The dragon made good on her word—if she didn't use that lightning breath on the monsters in the halls, she reached forward and smashed them, or whacked them with her tail, or bit them and spit them out in disgust.

They were technically walking in front of her, under her front claws—she was so huge that her neck was able to snake in and out the side passages and check for ambushes. With no real opposition, Bakura found where her hatchlings were hidden in record time—and then was carefully hedged out of the way by huge gleaming claws.

Any question as to why was answered by a sharp blast to the door.

Steps led down, too small for the dragon or even Yami to fit—they filed down, Wilson holding Willow's lighter aloft, Rae right behind him with her Night Judge, Bakura right behind them with his Millennium Ring, Yugi and Willow right behind because _no_, you adults are _not_ leaving us behind, even if we _would_ be with a Frost King and a dragon.

"What's a wendigo?" Willow asked after a while. "That thing green-guy called Yami."

"Most definitely _not_ Yami," Rae returned. "Wendigoes are creatures that at one point were human, but were turned into deer-like monsters from eating human flesh."

"Definitely not then," Willow agreed.

"Yami doesn't even eat _raw_ meat," Yugi pointed out.

"Maybe if the poor sap was cooked first," Bakura noised, sounding somewhere between amused and disgusted.

"Hey, great idea," Rae said. "Let's try it with you, see if it flies."

"Later," Wilson said, stopping at the tiny landing at the end of the steps, in front of a door. "Bakura, address this."

Bakura squeezed by Rae before looking the door over. "Hello Mr. Door—"

"I'll let Miss Rae chop you up and feed you to Yami."

Bakura quickly set to picking the lock as Rae readied her Night Judge. He unlocked it, stood to the side, as did Wilson—Yugi and Willow ducked behind Rae as Bakura shoved the door open—

They were greeted by angry hissing, so sharp and sudden that Rae yelped and swung her gun up to point at the ceiling.

Why she did so was evident when Yugi saw the glint of lighter-light on white scales.

It was the baby dragons, in a too-small room, wrapped so tightly around each other that Yugi's first impression was that it was one dragon with three heads. They were hissing and spitting angrily at them, tiny sparks coming from their mouths, but not enough to make one of those lightning-blasts the adults did. The teeth were sharp enough, though.

"Hi," Yugi said, deciding that that had worked well enough with the adults. "We're here to rescue you."

Willow nodded brightly, peeking out from Rae's other side. "Who wants to go see their mommy?"

Two mouths shut quickly, the corresponding eyes looking surprised.

The middle one still looked distrustful.

"We're not leaving without Kai," it declared.

Wilson made a face at Rae, somewhere along the lines of _hey, look at that—it talks._ Bakura, meanwhile, just made a face, as though guessing their fetch-quest just got longer.

"And Kai is?" Rae asked.

"Our baby brother," the head on the left said—the dragonet tried to come forward, but was held in place by the middle one. "He was born later than us, so he's smaller."

The way Wilson was rubbing his face said that it dawned on him too. "So where is he?" he sighed.

"We don't know—they took him away."

"Actually, we're asking him," Rae said, pointing at Bakura. "He can find anything."

The dragonet heads immediately swiveled as one to Bakura.

"You smell funny," the middle dragonet declared.

"Cheers," Bakura retorted.

"Come on then," Wilson said, stepping back from the door and indicating the rest do the same. "Let's get you to your mother, at least."

The one on the left perked up again. "You really found mom?"

"Yes. She sent us down here to fetch you because she wouldn't fit."

The middle one finally let go of the one on the left, and it uncoiled away and came forward, neck out eagerly, sniffing each one of them in turn.

"You all smell funny," it declared.

"I have no idea what to say to that," Yugi said.

"We've tried to get him to bathe regularly," Willow said, hand up and allowing the dragon to smell. "But you know how boys are."

"Yeah," the dragonet said, making Yugi realize it was a girl. It bumped against Willow's hand, and Willow took the opportunity to wipe some of the grime off of it.

"No, they can't stay with you," Wilson said as the other two minced out.

"I didn't even ask yet!" Willow protested.

"I could infer the conclusion."

Yugi, meanwhile, was looking at the dragonets, backing up on the stairs alongside Rae to give them more room. It was hard to tell, what with him being on the stairs and therefore higher, but the smallest one looked to be a head shorter than him, while the biggest one was about Rae's size. They were dirty and grimy, and the dirt and grime did nothing to hide the fact that they had patches of scales missing and claws trimmed or removed—Wilson was right, Dartz _had_ been fooling around with these dragons, probably taking their scales and claws for some magic potion or some other magic-y thing. Jerk.

"I'm Willow, that's Yugi," Willow said, pointing to Yugi. "And that's Wilson, that's Rae, and that's Bakura. And the Millennium Ring, which is what really does all the finding around here."

"_Hey,"_ Bakura protested before giving a little yip of pain—Yugi saw that one of the prongs on the Ring had poked him.

The littlest dragonet—the one that had been on the left—nodded brightly, Yami-style, before using her tail to point at herself and then the others. Yugi noted that a length of it was missing.

"I'm Kechara, that's Kismet," she said, pointing at the largest one. "And that's Kara. She can't talk anymore."

The middle-sized one had resolutely refused to uncoil herself from her largest sister, which had the unfortunate side effect of squishing Wilson against the wall. He made a sort of strangled noise, banging his free hand against the stone rather than against the dragonet—he was probably worried she'd bite it off.

"Why not?" Yugi asked, although he had a sinking feeling he already knew—oh please don't—

The middle-sized one, Kara, opened her mouth, showing it to be strangely empty. Yugi's stomach flopped when he saw why: her tongue had been cut out.

"The mean green man did it," Kechara said, sounding angry. "Is he dead? He's dead, right?"

"If he's not, I'd be surprised," Rae said, backing up further so the dragonets could continue up the steps—Wilson was finally un-squished, and he took a happy breath of air to re-inflate his lungs. "Last we saw of him, he was running down a hall with your mother shooting that lightning-breath after him."

Kechara nodded brightly before turning to her sisters. "I _told_ you."

"I never said she wouldn't," Kismet said.

"You _thought_ it."

"Did not!"

"It's like dragon-versions of us," Yugi said to Willow.

Willow's face lit up. "That would be _awesome_—can you imagine me being able to fly around and breathe fire?"

Yugi sincerely hoped then and there that that would never come to pass—he _really_ didn't want to see the world burn.

In practice, however, he agreed with her as they let Rae take point, Willow catching her lighter as Wilson tossed it to her and following Rae back up the steps, dragonets right behind them.


	128. Buried

**Chapter 128, everybody! In which I once again have a chapter written ahead…success. TvT Also, this chapter wasn't planned, but it came to me, and it had to happen—especially considering my original idea had too much of a sudden shift….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! You're welcome—and now I need to go look and see if there really _is_ a gun called a Wendigo (it sounds too plausible for it _not_ to be a thing). Yes, poor baby dragons, being picked on by the nasty green man****….****Me too….Somehow, I don't think Willow would have minded that….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Aha, yes—that happened when I was writing it, and about halfway through I thought "these dragons sound just like Yugi and Willow." So at least they acknowledge it. :) Yes, but that can't last for too long….All right, then I will! ^^ Life does do that….Yes, that seems to be true no matter what—I can't tell you how many stupid deaths I've had in ****_Don't Starve_**** because I got careless and did something daft (the cake goes to one time when I thought I could thread the needle between two killer bee hives during a full moon—terrible idea). Mom thanks you for clarifying things for her—and we both agree that the Australian megafauna sounds cool (and we always squish spiders, ever since one bit Mom in the knee when she was sleeping—unfortunately, she gained no spider-powers :\\). You will enjoy it—I'm currently trying to last past summer in the ****_Shipwrecked_**** DLC and failing miserably (which stinks, because I like this playthrough—just keep trying…).**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress ****© 1966 Robert A. Heinlein (Wilson's approach to problems is similar to an approach given in the book)**

Rae was out first after a brief pause—Yugi figured she was checking to make sure it was just the dragon and Yami out there.

"Permit me to introduce three-fourths of your clutch," she declared, coming out and gesturing back to the door. "There's still one to find, but that shouldn't take too long, right?"

The next several minutes were filled with excited squeeing and keening as the dragonets ran to their mother, who quickly sniffed them and checked them over before putting her forearms around them and licking them clean. Yugi could see the hooks on the tongue, like a cat's, and reflected that if it weren't for the scales, the dragonets wouldn't have any flesh left.

Bakura checked the Millennium Ring as the big dragon nudged the dragonets onto her, where they clung and coiled and squeezed in between the ridges separating her armor.

"You smell funny," what had to be Kechara said to Yami. Yami instantly looked confused and started sniffing himself.

"Do I really?" he asked Yugi, looking earnest.

Yugi sniffed as closely as he dared. "You kind of smell like snow," he said after some thought.

"I don't like this," Bakura said finally. "We're having to go back in, deeper in the castle."

"Then let's hurry up and get this over with," Rae said, coming around and glancing at the Ring. "I want to get this over with before Murphy's Law decides that this has been too easy."

Something started rumbling.

"You _had_ to say it," Wilson said.

"Sorry," Rae said, grimacing.

And then the castle started shaking, prompting everyone, dragons included, to look about in alarm.

And then the first of the stone bricks fell.

"What do you know," Rae said evenly, yet sounding hysterical. "The bad guy's place really _does_ have a self-destruct mechanism."

Which was the last coherent thing any of them heard as the hall began collapsing.

The dragon curled up over them, trying to shield them, but the floor was falling away too—Yugi was aware of Willow tumbling away before he too fell down a tumble of rocks, hit his head—

* * *

Yugi wasn't certain how much time had passed since he was knocked unconscious, but he was fairly certain that the numbness in his body was from the cold stone he was laying on and not from a fractured vertebrae. Almost certain. Fractured vertebrae caused tingling in the limbs, right? Except it sort of felt like the tingle he got when he got cold—_daah,_ why were the two so similar? There should be a-a warning bell in the head instead—_hold it, you broke your neck, don't move!_

Yugi blinked, decided he wasn't getting anywhere with that train of thought, and decided to start forward by glancing around as much as he could with his eyes. Dark, dark, dark, but maybe there was some light coming through? He could sort of see the rocks around him—so either his eyes had adjusted, or there was a way out. Y'know, provided he could still move.

He decided to try his limbs first—clench his fist, wriggle his toes in their boots….They were stiff and unresponsive at first, but they _were_ working….Lift an arm, pull a leg to his body….Okay, moment of truth….

He gingerly lifted himself up, waiting for the terrible _crack_ that would have been an important bone in his spine giving out….Nothing. His head was throbbing, but he was fairly certain that was from hitting it against a rock.

Now to find a way out.

He gingerly turned, still wary of his spine (and would be until he warmed up enough to know that it was just him being chilly), looked around…lots of rocks. Look up—he had tumbled under an archway, which had prevented him from being mercilessly squished.

He wondered if the others made it and tried to ignore that horrible feeling in his gut that thought brought. They _did_ make it, and were frantically trying to dig him out as he entertained that terrible thought.

"Hey," he croaked—choked on dust, coughed, tried again. "Hey!"

He regretted not being able to learn how to whistle—Wilson had attempted to teach him and Willow, and Willow had gotten it. His mom had tried when Yugi reached the end of Wilson's whistling patience, but Yugi still hadn't gotten it….He wondered how his mom was doing.

He sniffled, rubbed his nose against his sleeve—now was _not_ the time to cry, now was the time to find a way out and get to the others. Let's see…Wilson had always said to tackle a problem one step at a time, starting with the easiest and then moving on to the hardest…first thing's first then: get moving.

He stood, walked the perimeter of his little air pocket, which didn't take long—not good. But there _was_ a tiny bit of light coming from one end—he climbed up on a rock to get a closer look.

Lots more rocks on top of the ones he was under, but there was some hope—rocks weren't transparent, which meant there was a clear spot leading to the surface. Granted, it was too small for him to even get his arm through, but at least he wouldn't suffocate anytime soon.

"Hey!" he hollered again, feeling stronger now. Still no response….But maybe they were digging Willow out first, because she went tumbling before Yugi did…._Oh please don't let her be squished…._

He walked around in his space again, stomping his feet and rubbing his arms to get the circulation working again—he had the feeling he hadn't broken anything, although that bump on his head still smarted. Okay, first step done—find an air shaft or the like. Next step…maybe see about moving some of the rocks so he could get out.

He was kind of loathe to do that, honestly—chances were he'd move the wrong one and bring the whole thing crashing down on his head. He went back to the air shaft and hollered again. And again. And again, until he had to give his poor throat a break. He really should have heard someone by now.

Maybe he was dreaming—that would be a nice alternative to reality at the moment. He pinched himself—ow. No, not dreaming. He wished there was some way to tell time down here—it felt like ages since he woke up.

Maybe they were having to wait until the dragon finished fishing the rest of them out. They'd ask the dragon to help them over leaving him to die. Or maybe the dragon had said it was none of her business and flew off, but that'd be kind of ungrateful. Or maybe she had flown off because if she didn't show with the dragonets, her mate would kill their friends. Except there was still one missing…but she'd be able to talk him out of it, right?

He realized he was wringing his hands and made himself stop, tried whistling, decided to practice for a bit when he made his standard air noises. He did so until his mouth hurt, walked around the space again, looked up, hollered…no answer.

He was going to have to start digging himself out.

Okay…start small, right?

He picked up all the rocks he could fit in one hand on the side with the air shaft, put them on the other side. Okay…now what? Two-handed rocks? Or….

He cautiously tapped on the rocks, making sure not to stand under them as he checked to see how stable they were. None of them seemed particularly keen on moving, which he supposed was a good thing—no danger of them falling on his head unless _he_ did something stupid. Which he might end up doing….Holler for help again. Nada. Carefully wriggle a larger rock—

And then bolt to the other side as the whole thing started tumbling, in an absolute panic now—oh man, his worst fear confirmed—

Except he definitely wasn't squished when the noise stopped.

He looked up—some of the rocks had tumbled down from the air shaft, and more light was coming in….

Cautiously crawl up the new pile of rocks….There was a space he could squeeze through. Brief prayer and….

He started climbing to the surface.


	129. Light 'Em Up

**Chapter 129, everybody! In which Yugi finds the others and the writer is glad she had this written ahead—now to post this and go to bed. x-x**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, just when they thought they were out….Huh—I've ****_never_**** been able to whistle; and yet my Mom whistles like Rae does in the story. Yes, at least there's that—here's hoping!**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, there it is! Behold! Yes, this is true. Very true—oops. Well, to be fair, there were a ****_lot_**** of killer bee hives, and they were concentrated in an area where the land narrowed; saying that, I really should have waited until daytime to do so (fortunately, I was able to save that file by exiting out of the window instead of the game, so the game picked up again at the last save point—which was that morning). Yes! Now we know not to go where the wild things are! Or could be….Yes! Now if only there weren't so many volcanic eruptions….Ooh, good luck! And study!**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Light 'Em Up © 2013 Fall Out Boy (the chapter title)**

Yugi's first thought upon popping his head out of the shaft was that that was the sweetest air he had ever smelled.

His second thought was that it was no wonder no one had bothered with him.

The adults were recovering, the dragon was snarling, Yami was before them with his fur all on end—

Yugi had popped up right behind Dartz, who had both Willow and a tiny caged dragon in his grasp. He couldn't tell from the angle he was at, but it looked like Dartz had a knife to Willow's throat. Uncool. And enough to make Yugi's heart seize in his chest.

But he didn't know Yugi was there….

Yugi thought about and quickly dismissed throwing a rock at Dartz's head—he was lousy enough when aiming snowballs, and he didn't think a rock would be any better. Regrettably, that might leave only one—

Willow's lighter. Right there, on the ground next to her.

Okay, bad idea, but it might work.

He pulled himself the rest of the way out, keeping his body low and trying very hard not to make too much noise or move too much—the dragon spotted him, looked down, saw what he was doing—

"Mutilator!" she snarled. "How dare you hurt my hatchlings! I should rend you into tiny shreds and feed you to them!"

"I don't wanna," Yugi heard—must be Kechara. "The green man'd taste funny and give me indie—induh…hurt my stomach."

Dartz was taking a step back—oh no, don't turn around—Wilson was on his knees, and Rae's hands were up partway.

"I believe I've made my position quite clear on the matter," Dartz said. "If you don't want to see her blood, you let me leave."

Wilson's response was so vehement and uncharacteristic that Yugi thought that maybe Rae had said it—but his expression was unmistakable.

"Such coarse language," Dartz taunted. "I thought you purported yourself as a gentleman."

"Miss Rae has a point at times," Wilson said evenly. "Uncouth people deserve uncouth answers."

Rae actually looked at Wilson in surprise. "You _listen_ to me?"

"Was I not supposed to?"

Yugi's mittened hand curled around the lighter—dragon saw, growled as he clicked it open and to life—

And then Yami saw him—

His expression of relief and glee were enough to make Yugi think of sun suddenly coming out on snow, but it wasn't appreciated at the moment. Neither was his excited exclamation of _"Yugi!"_

Because now Dartz was turning—

Yugi didn't have time to think of doing anything else—he shoved the lighter at Dartz's robe.

The fabric caught, and Dartz's initial curse became vehement as he tried to bat out the flame—

Which released his hold on Willow enough for her to kick him in the shins and snatch the cage away. She grabbed Yugi's hand and they ran for the others—

Something long and thin flew as a resounding _boom_ filled the air—

Wilson had been hiding a spear, and Rae had wasted no time shooting Dartz.

Yami was dancing around Yugi and Willow, cheering _you're alive! You're alive!_ Over and over again—Bakura was on the dragon's outstretched hand, climbing up the arm and gesturing to the others to _come on already!_ The dragonets were cheering _Kai! Kai! Kai!_ Wilson was grabbing Yugi and Willow and practically flinging them onto the dragon before climbing up himself, dragging Rae along as Yami jumped onto the dragon's hip—

And then they were in the air, clinging as tightly as they could to the dragon's scales as she circled—

And unleashed another burst stream of destruction for good measure before flying away from the sunset.

"You think he's dead?" Willow asked, looking back at the smoldering ruin.

Yugi wasn't in the habit of wishing death on anybody, but glancing at the terrified dragonet still in the cage and bound up with belts….

"I don't think he'll be bothering us again," Yugi replied.


	130. Storied Relief

**Chapter 130, everybody! In which the writer is struggling to keep her motivation for a snowy story in the midst of 90-degree weather….I want to keep the twice-a-week schedule until the end, but at the rate the weather's going, I may have to drop it back to once a week. T-T**

**_A Thousand and One_ _Nights_ is a remarkably old Middle Eastern tale, in which the new bride of a king tells him half a story every night, concludes that story, and starts the next one in order to continually stay her execution. Stories included in these Arabian Nights are such famous ones as Aladdin and the genie and the forty thieves****—therefore, it seemed appropriate to include. :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes! Go Yugi! :D Me too, the louse—because you have good intuition! Although this chapter might be rather calm….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes they did! Jump on the dragon and fly away! :D Yes, dragons are the only way to travel—just ask Hiccup. :D This is true—as is that. Yes, it's much easier to see then (I was practically on top of the screen trying to see). And at least there's that (although I may end up losing that one due to Dragonfly spawning again—I hate that guy T-T). So very much true—that's been my modus operandi for ****_Morrowind_****, although there have been some…eh…mishaps….It does—and then if you're unlucky, the volcanic meteors that crash hatch out Dragoons. D: Yes, in plain Vanilla summer is much easier than winter—and then the ****_Reign of Giants_**** and ****_Shipwrecked_**** DLCs came out, and now summer is for overheating, which is infinitely more difficult to manage than freezing or wetness (which was also a new mechanic added in those two). All right! And woot! Free time! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Okay, once you got over the epicness that was riding on the back of a dragon, it was _cold_.

The dragon was definitely warm-blooded, but its thick scales kept its body heat in. Plus, fast winds at high altitudes in cold weather? _Brrr._

Fortunately, the dragon started angling down for a landing before Yugi froze to her scales. That would have been bad. Now here was hoping that sunset wasn't day three—

A dragon bellowed—something big and white flew out of a cavern in the mountain—

The other dragon.

The one they were on, to her credit, didn't instantly engage in the tumble the other dragon seemed to be wanting to perform. Rather, she landed, swept everyone off, and flew into the air to meet with her mate and fly in circles and dives and swoops—

_"Dude!"_

Yugi had barely recovered from being dumped in the snow when he was tackled by—

_Joey._ And _Tristan._

They were _alive_.

All that worry that had been eating at Yugi left in one big _woosh_ as they hugged first him, then Willow, then socked Wilson on the arm (eliciting a deadpan "ow" from the gentleman scientist). And Serenity was hugging everyone and crying and Teana and Bakura had sort of tackled each other and Yami was bounding all over, happy as a lark (whatever that was) and the dragonets chirped and cheered at their flying parents—

Yugi flopped onto his back in the snow, relief rendering him unable to do anything else. They were alive, they were all alive, everyone was all right, they could handle anything thrown at them now.

Willow flopped onto the snow next to him, heaved a sigh, and moved her arms and legs to make a snow angel.

"What a week," she observed.

"What a month," Yugi corrected.

"Things have been a bit hectic, haven't they?"

"Remember when the biggest problem was getting caught in a snowstorm?"

"I kind of miss those days."

"Me too."

Yami finally flopped down on Yugi's other side, wallowing in the snow and rubbing his head all around it. Yugi looked at him properly, appreciating the fact that Yami now had no antlers.

"At least you're not lopsided now," Yugi observed.

Yami lifted his head and rolled his eyes, trying to see.

"I miss them already," he said finally.

"Do they grow back?"

"Probably," Willow said, sitting up. "That's what Wilson said, right?"

Yugi was too busy appreciating the fact that without the antlers and at the right angle, Yami's face was almost human, and the lightning-bolt bangs and spiky mane of hair was too obvious to ignore.

And then Yami tipped his head, showing his wolfish profile, and it was gone.

"I hope they grow back," Yami declared. "I liked them."

"They were definitely defining features," Willow agreed.

Yugi sat up finally, just in time for wind from the dragons landing to buffet him back down. Fortunately, they looked much calmer than they had before. The bigger one nipped the smaller one in the neck, causing it to dip its head.

"I…want to apologize for my behavior before," the dragon said, identifying it as the male that had attacked them. "I…I wasn't in my right mind."

"That's okay," Willow said blithely. "It's understandable."

Bakura muttered something, prompting Teana to slap him in the chest.

"Go inside," the female dragon ordered, herding them in with her head. "It's getting dark out."

They did so, not needing to be told twice—because it was getting windy in addition to dark, and no one wanted to be out in _that_.

* * *

The first thing Yugi noticed when his eyes adjusted was the sled.

Rae was instantly there, rooting through the supplies.

_"There you are,"_ she said, voice sodden with relief as she pulled her shotgun out and…hugged it, oddly enough. "I missed you so _much_."

"You missed your gun and not us," Joey said flatly.

"I have more history with this gun."

Willow was holding the cage as Bakura picked the lock—he got it open, and the little dragon Kai shot out, hitting Bakura in the chest before scurrying over his shoulders in its haste to get to its parents and sisters.

"You're welcome," Bakura muttered, patting himself down as he checked for scratches.

Willow, meanwhile, ran back out of the cave and threw the cage as hard as she could. It bounced, tumbled, and then disappeared over the lip of the cliff. Kai was there instantly, hissing down at it before returning to his parents.

"Much better," Willow declared, dusting her hands off as she returned to where Wilson was setting up a fire and asking how they all had fared.

"It was pretty epic, actually," Tristan said, indicating Teana. "She kept the dragon distracted by telling it stories."

"I got the idea from _A Thousand and One Nights,_" Teana explained. "So long as I kept telling a long and interesting story, the dragon stayed distracted."

"And not eating us."

"Yes, that was important."

"What was the story about?" Yugi asked.

"Us," Teana said. "Although I kind of had to make up a few things along the way, to fill in some blanks."

Yugi nodded; that was understandable.

The male adult finally broke away from the family reunion and flew off, saying he'd be back with dinner. The female curled up around her dragonets and let out what could only be a contented sigh.

"Makes you feel real good about yourself, doesn't it?" Rae asked, elbowing Wilson.

"To be honest, what would make me feel really _well_ would be a nap," Wilson replied, legs stretched out and leaning against the sled.

Yugi heartily agreed on that point. Now that things weren't so desperate, the tension and stress that had been keeping him awake had abandoned him, and he was bone-tired.

He fell asleep curled up next to Willow.


	131. The Third Option

**Chapter 131, everybody! And as much as it pains me to say it, the last time we'll be updating on Tuesdays again—the weather is just too warm now to keep up the twice-a-week schedule. It kills me to do so because we're so close, but it needs to be done so I can stop typing this up in the middle of the night and posting it hot off the presses. Hopefully, I'll be able to resume the twice-a-week schedule soon, when I have it all written out to the end. Yes, we're getting close….**

**Rae's crack is a reference to one of those old folk stories about how a beggar convinced a whole marketplace to make him some soup by boiling a nail in water****—a different variation of the story has a rock substituted for a nail, with similar results.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, I've been noticing that…weird technology….Yes, but fortunately, the dragons have other ideas….Me too….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Me too….My goodness yes—but this weather ups production on ****_The Millennium Puzzle,_**** at least (my mind is switching over to the summer season, which is fortunate or unfortunate, depending on your point of view). Mom ****_is_**** thinking about it, now that she knows that the big scary things are easily avoidable….I ****_know_****—true pity. I think that was the point, actually—you're not supposed to be wandering around in the dark; "you are likely to be eaten by a Grue." Of course….I haven't returned to it in a while because of that….Yes, darn Murphy's Law….Aha, yes—the DLCs are for those who have aced Vanilla and need a challenge. They get it—and then they go back to Vanilla because it hurt too badly (and Maxwell was happy…). Ah, congrats! And congrats on that too—yes, you need to try it; I sort-of cosplayed when the ****_Bonds Beyond Time_**** movie came out: I went to the theater in black pants, a black turtleneck, and this white button-down dress my Mom got me which, if I unbuttoned it all the way, looked very much like Kaiba's white jacket. Mom was rolling her eyes until this thirty-something guy came up to me and said "That's so cool—you came dressed as Kaiba!" :D It was satisfying, to say the least….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yugi woke up at the sound of rushing air, sat up in alarm—

Just in time for the big dragon to drop something hairy with tusks curling out of it in front of the other dragons. The female sniffed appreciatively, while the dragonets squealed with delight and set to messily devouring the whatever. Urgh.

And then Yugi was aware of a much better smell.

"I smell soup," he declared, rolling to face the fire, where Wilson and Rae were standing over a pot and tasting the contents.

"It needs salt," Wilson declared.

"_How?"_ Rae asked. "You put one of your nasty pieces of jerky in there—it should need _less_ salt, not more."

"Fine then, taste it and tell me what it's missing."

Rae did so. "A spoon."

Wilson tried it again. "I swear it's missing something."

"You want I should put a nail in it?"

"Ha ha, no."

Yugi decided that maybe he wouldn't be eating just yet, nudged Willow awake instead.

"Nn, wha?" she noised.

"Wilson and Rae are cooking," Yugi declared.

"Mmkay," she said, curling back up. "Wake me when we can eat it."

He kind of wanted to do so too, but he was awake now, and opted to get up and see how everyone was doing. Most everyone else seemed to be swapping stories of their various misadventures while they were separated (Bakura was just describing the mutant wolves), and Yami was just inside the cave entrance, watching them.

Yugi went over and sat by him.

"How're you doing?" he asked.

"Fine," Yami said, head rested on his front limbs. "I'm glad everyone's back together."

"Yeah, that was a little dicey there for a while," Yugi agreed.

Yami looked at him. "What's 'dicey'?"

That simple question made Yugi feel much better—it was just so…so _Yami_, and Yugi was almost fooled into thinking they were back in Yami's cave, that first night he had met the Frost King.

"Dicey is…like, it's not going well," Yugi explained.

"Oh," Yami noised, thinking on it. "Yeah, I guess it _was_ a little 'dicey' back there."

Yugi couldn't agree more, sagging against the wall and breathing out a sigh. Well, at least it was all over now.

"Are we going back to Frostmore soon?" Yami surprised him by asking. "This has all been fun, but I miss home."

Oh wow—to be honest, Yugi could get that; he missed home so badly it hurt. But that Yami felt it was home….

And the reason they had gone on this crazy trip came crashing back down on him, along with the whole stinking mess that went along with it.

Yugi sighed again. He very dearly wished he could forget about the Sunlit Kingdom and just go home….

Wait. Wait wait wait wait—what if….

He jumped up, startling Yami, and ran over to Willow, shaking her awake.

"Wha—what?" she snapped sleepily, trying to wave him off.

"Willow!" Yugi hissed, hoping that would be enough to convey _wake up I need to field something by you._

It was; she sat up and looked at him, prompting him to glance around and see if anyone was watching. Wilson was glancing his way, so Yugi turned Willow so their backs were to him and started giving the broad gestures in their wordless language.

Willow's eyebrows sneaked up as he described it, which was pretty much the reaction he was expecting. Because he was proposing going _back_ to Frostmore and convincing everyone that Yami was on the up and up. Forget the Millennium Puzzle, forget the Sunlit Kingdom, forget the question of whether or not their Yami was _that_ Yami—because if Yami was happier this way, then why not? And if the Frost King was on Frostmore's side, then all the soldiers in the world could storm their mountain and never get past the trees. Frostmore had been failing because Yami was young and couldn't control his powers—but he had shown over the course of the trip that he _could_ control them, which gave them hope. All they had to do was convince the other adults to accept Yami, and that was that.

When he finished, Willow sat back and drummed her fingers on the rock, silent for the longest time. Yugi fidgeted a little.

"I do wonder what they're discussing," he heard Wilson mutter to Rae.

"Somehow, I don't think you'd understand if they spoke plain English," Rae replied.

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Yugi smirked and started laughing a bit at the two bickering, but didn't fall to temptation and turn around and look at them; if he did that, then he'd be inviting their opinion, and he really wanted Willow's thoughts first. She was his oldest and best friend, and he valued her opinion most of all—except perhaps that of his mom's, but then again, that was mom opinion, and that was pretty much top-tier stuff.

"I would _really_ like to do that," she said finally. "I _miss_ Frostmore, and all those other places…they were cool, but they weren't _fun_, you know?"

Yugi nodded; yes, he knew.

"And we took care of Dartz, so we got rid of your creepy uncle's wingman," Willow continued. "And yet…."

Yugi's heart sank; that was what he was afraid of. "And yet?" he prompted.

"And yet I can't shake the feeling that we're missing something, and if we go back now, we'll never catch it."

Yugi sighed; unfortunately, that had occurred to him too.

"Ahem."

They looked up and over; the female dragon was looking at them.

"My mate and I have discussed this," she said. "And we want to give you something."

They exchanged glances: what?

The dragons indicated that they follow them further into the cave. They did so, Wilson pausing to light a torch on Willow's lighter….

Bakura exclaimed softly at the sight, a sentiment echoed by most of the others.

"No wonder he didn't want us back here," Tristan said.

Piles and piles and piles of treasure—a true dragon's horde.

"For saving us, you each may take _one_ piece," the dragon said, holding up a claw for emphasis.

Everyone looked at each other—Wilson caught Yugi and Willow's eye, Bakura glanced over—

No words were needed. They knew just what one piece they were looking for.

The Millennium Puzzle.


	132. Mementos

**Chapter 132, everybody! In which treasure is discussed, pirates are brought up, references to ****_The Hobbit_**** are made, and gentlemen scientists converse with inanimate hunks of gold….Yes, my Mom does say what Rae's mom does—except just a mite stronger. And yes, she got it from _her_ mother. And on an interesting note: in the original manga, in the very first chapter, Yugi flat-out says that the Millennium Puzzle is his memento for his grandfather (which Téa takes to mean that his grandfather is dead—obviously, she encounters a bit of a shock a few pages later).**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes it is—it was refreshing to type, too; I miss their interactions….Yes, finally! And yes! And no—they still have to find the needle in a pile of needles. Yes! Those sticky-clawed dragons! Picking up unattended lumps of gold! Which, I suppose, is a good thing….Ah, good—I had that plotted out from the get-go, so I kind of questioned if the element of surprise was there. This is true—although Yami's cave I think is less treasure horde and more like Ariel's grotto from ****_The Little Mermaid_**** ("It's a dinglehopper!" :D).**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Well, it's not going to be ****_easy,_**** let's give it that. Yeah…but at least there's continuing progress (which is needed). Yes…and yes, they do—or at least, ****_we_**** do, as our area doesn't have anything quite like that (or rather, quite that poisonous or toothsome). Not at all—was playing it again today and just barely at the last possible second got Wilson a light source before the Night Monster came after him. Eh, I wouldn't knock the DLCs—they're fun, and they give some extra background to the game, which can then be used in stories…(been trying to work up enough nerve to play on ****_Don't Starve Together_**** to investigate the new backstories—except the idea of playing with other people makes me nervous *~*). Considering where I live, the only time people get dressed up is for Halloween….I need to find a convention to get to. And I'll be honest, if it wasn't for that dress Mom bought, I wouldn't have done it. Yes, strength in numbers! :D And yes, that's awesome (ooh, sounds cool). I'm not sure I'm tall enough, but I pulled it off quite well up until Mom pulled my ponytail out (had to tuck it back in). Ah, I see….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**The Hobbit © 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien**

**Pirates of the Caribbean © 2003 Gore Verbinski (Rae quotes something Orlando Bloom says in one of the outtakes****—and then of all things, the Millennium Ring quotes the second movie *~*****)**

Whether or not the Millennium Puzzle was really there or not was difficult to ascertain, considering the Millennium Ring's prongs were flailing wildly as Bakura stared at the gold. Wilson finally made a dismissive noise, steeled himself, and grabbed it, carefully holding it so the prongs wouldn't hit him…funny, last time he had grabbed it the thing had been boiling hot. Let's see, how did this work?...

_Is the Millennium Puzzle here?_ he decided to pose; simple questions, he figured.

He was surprised by a prompt response.

_Yes._

Honestly, he had been wanting a better answer.

_Simple questions get simple answers._

He scowled down at the thing—okay, now he could get Bakura thinking the thing insulted him.

_Fine then,_ he thought. _Where is the Millennium Puzzle?_

The prongs stilled, and then one pointed off into the distance. _That way._

Willow and Yugi were already looking in that area; he and Bakura were really the only ones still standing and not picking through the treasure. _And you couldn't have pointed that out before because?..._

If a hunk of gold could be amused, the Millennium Ring was it. _Witty Bakura doesn't know what he wants._

Uh-huh—he wouldn't have gone with _witty_. And he was having a conversation with a golden dowsing rod _Heaven help him he desperately needed sleep_—

And then the Millennium Ring requested something that Wilson was all too willing to oblige to.

"Ow!" Bakura yelped, upon being slapped upside the head. "What was _that_ for?"

Wilson had dropped the Millennium Ring, leaving his hands free so he could hold them up in mock-innocence.

"It wasn't _my_ idea," he said mildly.

* * *

"Check it," Willow declared upon climbing to the top of a pile of gold. She threw her hands up in the air. "I'm queen of the world! No wait—I'm queen under the mountain!"

"There's still dragons that might contest that," Yugi pointed out. Kechara and Kai at least were following them around—Yugi wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Yeah, but it's fun. Hey Wilson!" Willow yelled back towards the entrance. "What are we looking for again?"

"The Millennium Puzzle," Yugi said.

"I know _that,_ but what does it _look_ like?"

Oh. Yeah, Yugi could get that….

"You're looking for a hunk of gold in the shape of a pyramid," Wilson called over. "With a ring in the base for a string to hang around the neck, like the Millennium Ring does. And it has the same sort of eye embossed on it."

"Okay, that narrows it down," Willow said, glancing around her feet before holding her lighter up higher.

Yugi looked to Kechara and Kai, who were busy skittering around and sending gold coins clinking away. "Ever seen anything like that?" he asked.

"No," Kechara said, batting a diamond the size of Yugi's fist about before knocking it down the slope. "Mom and Dad got most of this together before we were even hatched."

Oh _wow_. Yugi wondered how long it had taken to get all this together.

"Ooh," Yugi heard Yami noise; he must have figured something was going on, for everyone to be at the back of the cave. Sure enough—there he was, at the entrance to the treasure cavern and staring in at all the shiny stuff.

"You may take _one_ piece," the female dragon told him.

"Of?" Yami asked, still naïve in some points.

"Of the treasure."

"It's like a souvenir, Yami," Yugi called.

Yugi could see Yami's head tilt, outlined by the fire in the other cavern. "What's a souvenir?" he asked, heading for their direction, but stopping when he hit the gold coins—their slick consistency must have startled him.

"It's like…a memento."

"What's a memento?"

"It's a thing you keep to remember something."

"Oh," Yami noised, sounding a bit enlightened. "A memento would be nice."

"Good," the dragon noised. "Then take one. And _only_ one, remember."

Yami looked around. "But what if I take something _you_ want?"

"I'll let you know."

Ah…Yugi supposed the dragons might be partial to a few pieces. He wondered which ones.

"Would you object too terribly to us playing pirates for a little bit?" Yugi called, holding up one of the gold coins.

"I don't mind those two doing it," the dragon said, indicating Joey and Tristan horsing around with bejeweled swords. "So no, I don't mind."

"What's a pirate?" Yami asked.

"They sail all over the sea and loot treasure," Willow declared.

"'Aaar! Swash swash buckle buckle!'" Rae called over.

Now Yami looked really confused. "What?"

"A buckle is like a belt buckle," Yugi said, indicating the one on his Peabody. "A swash is…uh…."

"A wigwam for a duck's patoot," Rae called.

"_Huh?"_ came from at least three different sources.

"It's something my Mom said. Which, in turn, was something _her_ mom said."

Yami looked _very_ confused now.

"Come on," Willow said, sliding down the slope of coins. "Let's keep looking."

"You're looking for a triangle-thing?" Kechara asked.

"Yeah."

"We'll help then," Kechara said, looking around. Kai looked around, found a diamond, and started playing with it. _Short attention span_ occurred to Yugi just then.

More clinking noises—Yugi looked back down to see Yami with his forelegs on the slope of treasure, uncomfortable with how it moved beneath him, before finally backing up, tail wrapping around a back leg.

"I don't like it," he declared finally.

"How about we bring a few things back for you to look at," Yugi said. "And then you can pick something out from that?" Yugi looked up to the dragon. "Would that be all right?"

"So long as you only leave the cavern with one item apiece," she said.

Honestly, Yugi thought he might end up going with one of the coins, personally—he just wanted a little something to remember this by, that wouldn't be too big and bulky. Maybe a ring or a necklace or a bracelet—hey, he could pick something out for his mom! It'd be the least he could do after going off and adventuring without her.

Yami gave the pile one more try before backing off from it, ears flat as more coins trickled down.

"Okay," he said finally, sounding unsure about being left behind but unhappy with the way the treasure moved beneath his feet. "I'll just wait here then."

Yugi waved. "Don't worry—we'll bring you back something that'll be a _real_ memento!"

Yami looked brighter at that, which Yugi thought was a good thing—after all, if they were right, then that was _exactly_ what the Millennium Puzzle was going to do.

And with that, he went sliding down the slope, to join Willow in the treasure hunt.


	133. Definitions of Wealth

**Chapter 133, everybody! In which we take a sort of ****_One Piece_**** approach to what means what to some of our group….Metals for dragon scales comes from the ****_Age of Fire_**** book series, which is a good read, in my opinion. And interestingly, Yami ****_should_**** know what avarice is, considering in the manga the first penalty game is "the illusion of avarice."**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, look at it! But touch nothing but the Puzzle…wait, wrong show. Well, firstly, he will freeze absolutely, then he will start squeeing like a little girl and running all over, making grabby hands but not touching anything because it's too much. :D I think it was just the strange footing—he didn't like sand either, remember.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! And success, I can read this on the website instead of through my e-mails. :D Yes, it's quite the character-we-didn't-think-was-a-character. :D Good question—I hope not; then the story would take another eight years as Yugi solves it….This is true. And this is also true. As is that. It was—although despite having some good locations, this save seems to be an exercise in frustration and using the window-x instead of leaving the game properly. D: Which, granted, is probably not doing much to sell the DLCs—but it makes a nice bit of satisfaction when you succeed. :D Also, ****_Don't Starve_**** is sort of set up like the old arcade games—it's not so much a win-at game as it is ****_I lasted this long, beat that!_**** Yes…one of these days I'll get up the nerve. Huh, didn't know that (although the more I read about it, the more it seems that Halloween is a distinctly American holiday that sort-of gets picked up by other countries). Yes, this is true—and there are a few nearby (we're in a position where quite a few cities are a few hours' drive away), and then Dad goes on business trips in the San Diego area…one day….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**The Lone Ranger (movie) © 2013 Gore Verbinski (the Millennium Ring appears to be a movie buff)**

**Age of Fire series © 2005 E.E. Knight (why dragons need metal)**

**Ultimate Spider-Man (comic book) ****© 2000 Marvel Comics (Bakura quotes Ben Urich at one point)**

It took more than a few minutes for Bakura to compose himself enough to start looking.

Of course, once he started looking, it was to find that the Millennium Ring wasn't being quite helpful on the matter. He had asked it where the Millennium Puzzle was. Fine. It pointed in that direction.

And then it started pointing in a different direction.

"Make up your mind, why don't you," Bakura growled.

_Make up yours._

Bakura scowled at that, looked where one prong was pointing—

Teana.

"I am _not_ going there," Bakura muttered, digging through a pile of gold. "You don't go with your best friend's girl."

_Your reaction when she was snatched was not of one worried for his friend's beau._

He scowled down at the Ring. "If you're not going to contribute anything useful, shut up."

The prongs stilled for a moment, and then one pointed to a chest. _What you seek is in there._

Bakura grumbled before opening the chest, muttering about _thank you it's about time you cooperated—_

Pawed through the chest—no Millennium Puzzle.

But there _was_ a small ring with a blue gem in it.

_It makes a lovely engagement ring, doesn't it?_

Bakura leaned heavily on the chest, kneading his forehead with his hand.

"I hate you," he muttered finally. "I really, really do."

* * *

Wilson gave the cavern the once-over. Ridiculously huge and full of treasure.

"What is it with dragons and treasure?" Wilson had to ask.

"It's for our scales," the female dragon explained. "We eat the metal for strong and healthy scales."

Oi. Here was hoping the Millennium Ring hadn't been lying. And if it wasn't, at least there was a smaller area to focus on than _whole honking cavern_—because that was too much ground to be anything but depressing.

"I see. I think," Wilson noised finally, before looking at Yami, tail curled around his feet and laying near the dragon. "And you're not with Yugi and Willow because?"

"I don't like it," Yami said. "It's weird under my feet—like sand was. I don't like sand either."

"The impracticalities of avarice, I see."

"What's vah-rice?"

"_A_varice. It's greed."

"Oh," Yami noised. "I don't get it."

"Of course you don't," Wilson sighed. "Greed is…getting more than you could ever need or use, and then wanting more after that."

"Oh," Yami noised. "I don't get it."

"You boggle the mind," Wilson informed him. "So I take it you're staying here."

"Yeah," Yami said. "But Yugi and Willow said they were bringing some stuff back for me to look at."

Wilson nodded, looked back out at the piles and piles of gold. They'd starve long before they'd go through the whole thing; they'd have to stop for a meal and rest before going back…if they were allowed back for a second round.

"I don't suppose we're allowed breaks for refreshing ourselves," Wilson posed to the dragon.

"You are," she said, tipping her head to better see the going-ons in the cavern.

"That's new," Wilson muttered. He looked the gold over again, trying to calculate how much was actually _in_ here….

"How many pounds of gold does a dragon go through in a year?" Wilson asked—it seemed pertinent to science to ask, and he was already fishing his notes out.

"It depends on the size of the dragon," the dragon said. "And the type—a gray scaleless wouldn't need any gold. Growing dragons need more gold to feed their scales and keep up with their growing size. An adult would need roughly the same amount each year, depending on size and scale, although the amount may fluctuate depending on if they get into fights or the like."

"I see, somewhat," Wilson noised, happily scribbling in his notes. This was up there with _first scientist to document a Frost King_.

Ah, but of course. He glanced back at Yami, laying there with his head on his crossed forearms, waiting patiently for Yugi and Willow to return. Without the antlers, that mane of hair was hard to ignore.

Wilson gave it some thought, cleared his throat as he tucked his notes away. "Ah, is it all right if I pick up this thread of discussion later?" he asked the dragon.

"Of course," the dragon said, sounding amused. "I get the feeling that knowledge is your preferred treasure."

"One of them, at least," Wilson admitted.

And then he set off after Yugi and Willow.


	134. Relational Accusations

**Chapter 134, everybody! In which we mention the amulets from _Don't Starve,_ make Wilson extremely uncomfortable, and discover that I stink at turn-based strategy games—apparently I lack the cunning needed to succeed at ****_Sword of the Stars_**** and ****_Civilization V_**** (but at least I got that last one working again).**

**And if you get the chance, head over to Ectology's Tumblr page—they've drawn the very first piece of fan art _ever_ for ****_The Frost King_****, of Frost King Yami! :D And actually, I'm pretty sure they've drawn the first piece of fan art for one of my stories period….But go look at it—it's awesome. :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, that darn Ring! Yes, but he tries to keep it on the down-low because you don't just go with your best friend's girl, but with the Crown Prince being AWOL for a decade….Eh, so was Aladdin—Bakura just needs a genie. ;) Yes, thank you E.E. Knight for explaining that in a satisfactory manner—it made such sense to me when I read it that my mind said "automatic canon." And according to the source material of ****_The Age of Fire_**** series, yes, any old metal will do—at one point, a female dragon, Wistala, ate rusty nails because yes, it still helped.**

**Miqu, thanks for the review! Ah, so that's what's been happening to my pageviews (not that I'm complaining)…and now I'm picturing Ichabod Crane from the ****_Sleepy Hollow_**** TV show doing the 'mind-blown' gesture. :D Woot! I peeked at that (should probably peek at the fan art, too). Glad you like the plot of this one—and ****_that_**** is actually going to be coming up soon….Yes, a Wendigo might be the most accurate comparison—but at least Yami doesn't chew on people. D:**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review, and congrats on review #199! Yes, it does—and it knows just which buttons to press too. :D Yes, you're logged in, so there's no issue. This is true—as is that. Here's hoping. Yes…and then I find turn-based strategy games, and they kick my can harder than ****_Don't Starve_**** does (or perhaps it's an equal level of can-kicking, and I just find it more tolerable coming from a game that has Wilson in it). This is true, strangely enough—it seems that most American holidays are like that (but to be fair, it's the same thing with other countries' holidays here—we're aware of them, but we don't really celebrate them). So very true….Maybe as a graduation or birthday present. Hey, that looks like how my weekend's going! :D And Steam is having a summer sale (just bought a boatload of games on the cheap :D), if you're still hankering for a certain game starring a certain gentleman scientist….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Age of Fire series © 2005 E.E. Knight (why dragons need metal)**

**Rudolph's Shiny New Year ****© 1976 Rankin-Bass (Rae quotes Oh-Em at one point)**

Finding the Millennium Puzzle in this mess was going to be a daunting task to say the least. Yugi supposed it would have been too easy for it to just be _sitting_ there ready for the taking.

On a different note, Willow seemed to be delighting in teaching the dragonets what constituted their horde.

"This is a necklace," Willow said, holding a gold one up with a big red gem set into it. "See the pretty red ruby?"

"I like it," Kechara said. "It's shiny."

"Here, you wear it like this." She slipped it onto Kechara's neck, where it fit handily. "And then here's one with a blue gem, and then one with a _purple_ gem, and one with a yellow gem….And here's one with a green gem! Look at that!"

"That's a _lot_ of necklaces," Yugi observed.

"Yeah," Willow said, holding the lot of them up. "But not the sort we're looking for."

Yugi scooped a few handfuls of gold out of the way. "Well, I found something with an eye," he said, holding up an amulet. "But I don't think this is what we're looking for."

"This is sort of triangle-shaped," Kechara noted, pointing at the one with the blue gem.

"Yeah," Willow noised. "But I don't think this is it."

"Like this and this," Yugi guessed, holding the eye-amulet in front of the triangle amulet.

"Oh," Kechara noised, before going back with her brother and rooting about.

"Why do dragons need a horde anyway?" Yugi wondered, looking around. "I mean, the stories have all that, but why have it?"

"For our scales," Kechara said, glancing back at them. "Gold and silver and stuff makes our scales nice and hard, and keeps them growing in healthy." She held up a coin. "Silver is better for our scales, because it matches our color."

Kai made a noise which was marginally muffled by him currently having his head in a vase.

"What?" Willow asked.

"Kai says Mom says that that's not necessarily true," Kechara translated. "But I think the silver tastes better."

Yugi went cold as that registered. "Wait—you _eat_ this stuff?"

"Yeah, like this." She put the coin in her mouth and swallowed.

Yugi and Willow exchanged glances—_oh no._ If the dragons had already eaten the Millennium Puzzle, then their searching was moot.

Coins tinkled, some muted science-y cursing floated up, and then Wilson was climbing up, and then flopping down upon reaching the summit and a point where he _wouldn't_ immediately go sliding back down the slope.

"This is horribly impractical," he muttered in between gasps of air. Yugi supposed he wasn't used to scurrying up and down mountains of gold—but then again, that wasn't a regularly-occurring thing. He wondered what a good comparison would be—piles of dirt or gravel, maybe?

Willow had a different focus.

"Only _you,"_ she said, reaching up and poking Wilson in the head. "Would think a pile of gold would be impractical."

"It _is_ impractical," Wilson insisted, sitting up—and promptly sliding down the side Yugi and Willow were on. They ran down to him as he struggled upright.

"Look at this," Wilson continued, straightening himself out and gesturing around. "If they weren't dragons, this would have been stolen by now. And _mound of gold_ is horribly imprecise—how would one know how much they had?"

"Eyeball it?" Willow guessed.

"It's still a terrible way to keep track of one's funds."

"They eat it," Yugi pointed out. "What if they ate the Millennium Puzzle?"

"I'm vaguely certain that isn't the case—hence, why I'm up here helping you look instead of down there continuing what was shaping up to be a fascinating conversation."

"We're doing all right," Willow said. "Go back to your conversing."

"I'm fairly certain I'll be able to return to it later—and this gives me some time to compose my queries."

Kechara had come over when she realized they had stopped looking; was now looking at Wilson with no small amount of confusion.

"You talk funny," she declared.

"It's like the Frost King in miniature," Wilson muttered.

"I figured it was like dragon versions of me and Willow," Yugi said.

"A similarly depressing thought. Come, let us search."

"'Comest thou with me! We searcheth!'" Rae jeered from the next mound over before turning and sliding out of sight. "'Clang clang clang!'"

"What is she on about?" Willow asked.

"Now _that_ is the question of the year," Wilson said, picking a spot at random and sifting through it.

"Uh huh…hey, maybe you should go looking with her."

"What, you don't enjoy my company?"

"Well, _I _do—I can't say much for Yugi—"

"_Hey,"_ Yugi protested.

"But I think you might enjoy _her_ company _more."_

Wilson looked like he was about to respond, stopped, looked slowly to Willow.

"I already get enough ribbing from other sources," Wilson said, tone deceptively calm. "Do _not_ start with me, young lady."

"He _does_ have a thing for her," Willow said to Yugi, as Kai backed out of the vase and kept looking. Yugi decided to stay out of it and keep looking, moving some huge bronze mirror out of the way—or trying to; the thing was heavy, and he settled for trying to roll it out of the way and hoping that bronze mirrors didn't fall under the same category as regular mirrors as far as _seven years bad luck when broken_ was concerned.

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Wilson asked testily.

"Well, you two _do_ like science-y stuff and scribbling."

"Well, since we're throwing stones in glass houses—do you have _any_ idea how many people in Frostmore think _you two_ are an item? Miss Rae included."

_"Ew,"_ Yugi and Willow noised simultaneously.

"I don't have a _thing_ for her," Yugi protested, pausing a moment in his endeavors. "She's my best friend."

"Aw, you're sweet," Willow said.

"See, there was where you were supposed to say the same thing about _me."_

"I'd kind of rather have someone taller, to be honest."

"Gee, thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"Don't worry, I won't." Yugi noted Wilson smirking as he resumed his search, guessed that Wilson had banked on properly deflecting the topic at hand. "But on the subject of things worth mentioning, Wilson _does_ seem happier around Rae."

"This is true," Willow said, returning her attention to Wilson. "So you see, there _is_ something going on between you two."

Wilson spluttered as Yugi resumed his attempt to move the bronze mirror. Kai came over, noted what he was doing, and started helping.

"I do _not_ have a thing for Miss Rae," Wilson hissed, standing so he could glare down and point at Willow properly.

"You do too," Willow countered.

"Yeah," Yugi wheezed—still heavy, even with a little dragon helping. "You do."

"I don't even know you that well, and I'd have to say yeah, you do," Kechara said.

Wilson put his face in his hands. "Just shoot me," he groaned. "Please, just shoot me now."

"Do I hear someone asking for a bullet?" Rae asked, climbing up the mound behind Wilson.

Wilson very nearly lost his footing and went tumbling again as he spun around. "How long have you been there?" he demanded.

"Long enough to tell you that if you asked nicely, I'd shoot them for you," Rae said, sliding down the other side. "And that's not something to be cheering about," she added as Yugi and Kai finally sent the mirror rolling down the pile and started cheering.

"Well, since you heard all the pertinent information," Wilson said testily, arms crossed. "Why don't _you_ set these two straight?"

Rae examined them before turning to give Wilson the once-over.

"Well, you're tall enough," she said. "And I don't have to use my small words, so there's that. Kind of a pointy face and weird hair, and you don't smile enough—which is a drag, really, because you're cute when you smile." And then she reached around and tugged on Wilson's back pocket. "And you fill out these pants _very_ nicely."

Wilson was a very interesting shade of red as he leapt away with a yelp and batted her hand away, this time sliding down a little dip when he did so.

"That's it!" he stormed over Willow and Rae's laughter. "I give up! I'm leaving! I do better off by myself anyway!"

"Aw, come on, I was just teasing," Rae said as he floundered back up to their level. "You _do_ make it easy for me to do so, I'll have you know."

"Yeah, you do," Willow said, laughing as she turned to Yugi for confirmation. "Doesn't he, Yugi?"

Yugi didn't answer—he hadn't been really paying attention to the discussion being had.

Because he was staring at something that was staring right back at him, a gold eye embossed on an upside down pyramid, that had been hidden behind the brass mirror—

The Millennium Puzzle.


	135. The Frost King's Dilemma

**Chapter 135, everybody! In which we introduce Yami to the Millennium Puzzle….**

**Miqu, thanks for the review, and congratulations on review #200! Yes! *screams with you* Things ****_will_**** get interesting…soon….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Ah, good, glad I could do so. :) Yes, mwahahaha…I'm sure those two would love to hear that. *passes idea to Willow* You did? Wow—but yes, Yugi ****_had_**** to be the one who found it; it wouldn't make sense if Joey or Tristan did (although reflecting on it, that would have been a good fake-out). Good question….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, what indeed?...Smart Ring. I am getting a little better at it (I actually 'finished' a game of ****_Civilization V_**** the other day). This is true. And this is also true—Wilson's presence greatly improves the game (I've played as a few of the other characters, and none of them really clicked with me like Wilson did—I'd spend the whole game missing his trumpety voice). This also seems to be true…I wonder why (especially considering America's such a melting pot of other cultures—you'd think we'd share more holidays). Well, decompressing is good too. Bummer—next time, I'm sure. And it did go through—success! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Up © 2009 Pixar ("I do so very much want the ball!")**

Yugi wasn't sure how long it took for him to recover, but Willow came and spotted the cause first.

"Wilson," she called, tone very clearly _come here and look we're not joking this time—_

Kai sniffed at it as Wilson and Rae came up behind Yugi, looked over his shoulders—

"That's it," Wilson breathed, before speaking again more clearly. "That's it. That's the Millennium Puzzle."

Kechara came behind Kai and looked at it. "Oh," she noised. "Triangle with an eye on it. I see it now."

Willow gave Yugi a nudge, encouraging him to kneel down and reach forward—he saw the cord that was similar to the one on the Millennium Ring, and opted to pick it up by that. It swung like a dowsing pendulum for a moment afterwards before finally stilling.

Everyone was quiet for a long moment.

"So," Rae said finally. "Who wants to tell the Crown Prince that his vacation's over?"

* * *

"Did any of it have any filigree on it?"

"I don't know what that is," Yami answered honestly.

"It's like detail carved into something," the female dragon—who had introduced herself as Kisara and was much more patient than her mate Kaiser—explained.

"Oh. No, it didn't have any of that."

Kaiser sagged upon that admission. "Then it isn't a horde," he said. "It's just a junk pile."

"Not everyone wants mounds of gold, dear," Kisara said.

"Whyever not?"

"Consider how impractical it would be for a human."

Kaiser gave that some thought. "This is true. And then they just _sit_ on it! They don't use it for armor or anything like that! What a waste!"

Yami nodded, mostly to be agreeable—he liked Kaiser much more now that he wasn't trying to kill everybody. That had been mean.

"You don't seem to have any use for gold either," Kisara said. "And yet there's something about you that sets my treasure sense off—are you sure you don't have anything of value on your person?"

Yami had _no_ idea what she was talking about. "Uh, I…don't know," he said finally. "Can you explain that to me?"

Kisara made a musical hum as she considered that. "Dragons can sense treasure, can sniff it out—there's something on you…or perhaps _in_ you…that's valuable. An actual _metal or gem_ treasure. You didn't happen to pick something up in your travels and forget about it, did you?"

"Or something here," Kaiser hissed under his breath. Kisara nipped him in the nose.

"I know better," Kisara chided, before looking at Yami expectantly.

"I'm not sure," Yami admitted. "And…oh wait." He _did_ have pockets…but fishing in them revealed nothing. "No, sorry."

Again, that musical hum of pondering, but she let it slide.

Especially considering there was something that was guaranteed to make Yami drop the conversation immediately.

"Yami!"

He was on his feet and facing the gold in the same motion, practically vibrating with excitement as Yugi appeared at the top of the gold pile and slid down, waving as he did so.

"Yugi!" Yami barked, practically dancing about at the base of the gold, reminding himself to back up a little so he didn't freeze Yugi. "How was it? Did you find anything? You said you'd get something for me—did you?"

Yugi smiled at him, hiding his hands behind his back. "We _sure_ did," he said, as Willow came sliding down—Yami paused to greet her before returning his excited attention to Yugi. "And we think you'll really like it—want to see?"

They thought he'd _really_ like it? Oh boy! This was probably better than jingle-bells and biscuits-with-bacon all rolled into one! "Yes yes yes!" he said, nodding so hard he sent flurries flying. "I do so _very_ much want to see! What is it?"

Yugi and Willow exchanged glances—

And then Yugi pulled his hands out from behind him.

Yami's excitement fell like an icicle and crashed into a million pieces.

It was an upside-down triangle-thing with an eye on the front—but it was like _that thing,_ the one Bakura had. The one that gave Yami bad vibes. There was _no way_ he wanted a piece of that.

It occurred to him that they had said they'd bring him a few things to see what he liked, and he was just trying to figure out how to ask that nicely and not have them have those semi-disappointed looks on their faces when Rae whistled, redirecting all attention.

"We may as well stop for dinner!" Wilson hollered into the blackness. "Drop what you're doing and come on! _I'm primarily talking to three boys who don't listen anyway!"_

"Don't make me come in there!" Rae hollered.

"You're banking on them being threatened," Wilson muttered.

"This is true," Rae agreed, before raising her voice again. "Don't make the big dragons come in there!"

Kaiser snarled to punctuate that statement, prompting a round of _Coming_s to echo back to them.

But dinner was good. Yami liked dinner.

And it gave him a chance to figure out a way to say _no thank you, can I have something else_ without hurting Yugi or Willow's feelings.

* * *

Yugi didn't need Willow poking him and giving him meaningful looks during dinner to know that Yami had not been thrilled at the sight of the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi kind of hoped it was because Yami had been hyping what they were bringing him up in his mind and was a little underwhelmed, but he doubted it. Yami didn't like the Millennium Puzzle, plain and simple, which was exceptionally obvious from his pointed avoiding of it—it was interesting to watch, Yami being torn between being as far away from the Puzzle as possible and yet unwilling to leave Yugi's side. In the end, he settled for sitting on the opposite side of Yugi than the Puzzle, keeping one wary eye on the trinket as he did.

Wilson didn't seem to be in a better mood either. Yugi could guess why—they had found the Puzzle, but they still hadn't answered the conundrum (which was the big word Wilson used to describe their predicament, which was the word he had used to describe the mess they were in—the last of which was provided by Rae when it became evident the words weren't getting any smaller) they were in. The simple fact of the matter was that it had to be either Yugi or Yami—or they could still run, Yugi pointed out to Willow; they _had_ found the Puzzle, so there was that.

But when dinner was over and Yami was on the cliff shelf looking up at the snow drifting by, Yugi figured he might as well get the question out of the way once and for all.

"So what do you think?" Yugi asked, coming over beside Yami, still carefully holding the Puzzle by the string.

"It's pretty," Yami observed, still watching the snow. "But not the fun sticky kind—more like the fun fluffy kind." He looked down, saw the Puzzle. "Oh. Um…can I _not_ have that one? Is it okay if I have something else instead?"

Yugi glanced at Willow, whom he had requested stay back during this discussion; she was hovering by the cave mouth and rolling her eyes in a very _I told you so_ manner.

Yugi turned his attention back to Yami, who was also glancing towards the cave mouth. "Don't you like it?"

"No."

No elaboration. "Is it because it's kind of plain? Willow thought it might be that."

"_You_ did," Willow called over.

"No," Yami said, looking down before glancing back at the cave mouth.

"What is it then?" Yugi asked. "Um, so we know what to look for."

"I just don't like it. It's like that thing Bakura has—it gives me bad vibes."

On the positive side, that gave some added confirmation that this _was_ a Millennium Item instead of some cheap knockoff. On the negative side….

The way Yami kept glancing at the cave mouth told Yugi that there was more to the topic than that.

"Yami," Yugi said slowly. "Is that the _only_ reason?"

Yami looked down, sitting very much like Chester used to when he had stolen Wilson's meal. There was _definitely_ more than just what Yami had said.

"I," Yami started, ears flat. "I…I've heard you all talking….And I heard Teana and Bakura talking, when they think no one can hear….And Wilson and Rae….I don't want it. I don't want it if it means I'd be like that guy they talk about. I don't _want_ to be someone else—I want to be _me."_

He was looking at Yugi with pleading eyes when he finished—ow. Just…_ow_. Yugi very pointedly avoided looking at Willow—he didn't need to see her looking justified. And Yami…of course. He might not know much, but he wasn't stupid—if they could put two and two together, then so could he. And Wilson hadn't been very positive in his descriptions of the Crown Prince….

No, that wasn't it. If someone came to Yugi and told him he was really an entirely different person, Yugi would have wanted nothing to do with it either. Actually, Yugi _had_ been there—when he was stuck in the Royals' palace at the Sunlit Kingdom. He hadn't liked that at _all_.

And…it occurred to him that if the Millennium Puzzle worked, he'd be visiting that exact fate on Yami.

And he couldn't do that to his friend.

"Okay," Yugi said finally. "Okay. I can get that. We can get you something else."

Yami perked up at that—he had apparently been expecting the issue to be forced. "Really?"

"Really," Yugi said, nodding before shivering—it was cold out here. "Come on—let's go in."

And they did, Willow joining them wordlessly as they headed for where the group was camping, Yugi carefully depositing the Puzzle on the ground by the cave wall.

"I kind of wish we could give you a hug," Willow said finally, addressing Yami.

"What's a hug?" Yami asked.

"It's a way you show affection," Yugi explained, looking at Willow—the thought translated with one glance—

And before Yami could pursue the line of thought, Yugi and Willow hugged him, sandwiching the Frost King between them. He was remarkably skinny beneath his fluffy ruff, Yugi noted, as he and probably Willow tried to transfer all their feelings regarding him and how he was fine the way he was to him—

It lasted about three seconds.

"_Hoo!"_ Yugi yelped, breaking away and rubbing his arms vigorously, sending a thin coating of ice scraping off to the floor as he did so. "That was _cold!"_

Wilson was already building up the fire, looking aggrieved as he did so.


	136. Make 'Em Laugh

**Chapter 136, everybody! In which I really have to knuckle down and work on this story, despite the weather being super-hot and my mind wanting to work on other stories. Bad mind. Finish this one.**

**Also, Rae's opinions on men and women come from discussions with my Mom—men do really have more muscle mass than women due to testosterone, so it takes more work on a woman's point to do the same heavy lifting that a man can do. Therefore, the line "be a dear and get that for me" came into existence. :D**

**And again, we seem to have a record-breaker word count this chapter. Also, this story now exceeds 450 pages in Word. Go figure.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Good question—bad vibes, that's what (it ****_was_**** implied in the original manga that the Millennium Items had darker sides to them). Of course, he doesn't want to be an arrogant snot, either….He is, currently…and wow, you've hit the problem with that right on the head—I didn't think anyone would get it (****_I_**** barely got it for the longest time). It is quite sad, and in all honesty the only thing keeping him from going forward with the Puzzle is something very simple and human: he's afraid of change.**

**Miqu, thanks for the review! Ah, thank you. *nabs some popcorn* I'll try—although the last time I tried to convert one of my fanfics to an original story, I ended up with something completely different. On the positive side, some of the mechanics working here, such as the Bradbury-Orwells, get recycled in my original stories (****_Glint and the Pirates_****) so I might be able to—if nothing else, my goal is to become big enough in the entertainment field that I could make this (although in retrospect…). It'll require some work, but I'll try. :D Yes! It's hard to miss it with those wolf ears of his (and then it occurs to me that a running gag in my stories seems to involve Yami having excellent hearing). I think so too, although I agree that him having multiple personalities would be interesting. Ah, and I have the opposite problem—thanks for looking at my other stories, though! :D**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, you and Angiembabe both noted that. Yes it does—but enough games; I must art and write. *superhero pose* There's just something about that nerd, isn't there? :D Yes, you would think—one of my characters actually has a book listing all the holidays all over the world so he has an excuse to goof off every day of the year (from CCI—I need to get back to that, actually…). Yes…but it makes the free time that much better, so….Yes, someday….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Night Shift © 1982 Ron Howard ("New goal in life—make Wilson a man")**

**Atlantis: The Lost Empire © 2001 Disney ("Well you did set the camp on fire and drop us down that big hole")**

**Animaniacs © 1993 Steven Spielberg (the chapter title comes from an Animaniacs episode, which featured a song by the same name)**

**Calvin and Hobbes © 1985 Bill Watterson ("****_My_**** thoughts are worth a buck a piece")**

**Guardians of the Galaxy © 2014 Marvel; James Gunn ("That was ****_real!"_****)**

**The Corpse Bride © 2005 Tim Burton ("They get something stuck in their heads and you can't do a thing with them!")**

**Batman: The Animated Series © 1992 Bruce Timm &amp; Paul Dini ("I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before…I don't like it")**

**Robots © 2005 Blue Sky ("Now say 'money should be falling from the sky!'")**

Wilson sat staring into the fire, once again at a loss.

They had found the Millennium Puzzle. Bully for them.

And once again, he found himself at the point that had stumped him the last time: which one to throw under the bus.

He couldn't do that to them. He couldn't do it to Yugi, and he couldn't do it to Yami. He supposed they could go running back to Frostmore, but still….

He needed to hash this out with somebody.

"A penny for your thoughts," Rae said, sitting next to him and handing over a mug of tea. The hot chocolate had been long ago spent.

"So terribly sorry," Wilson said, accepting the mug and holding it as he resumed staring into the fire. "My thoughts are worth ten dollars apiece."

"And what gives you _that_ impression?"

"The fact that they are wide-ranging, varied, and have quite a bit invested in them." Something occurred to him. "Although….How much are your thoughts worth?"

"Quite a bit, considering they have all that you mentioned going for them and come from a female source."

"And what does gender have to do with it?"

"Throughout history, who has the tendency to do incredibly stupid things? Men. Women think things through."

"It's been my experience that men are more overt while women are more underhanded."

"We have to be—we don't have testosterone going for us, so we have to turn our opponent's strength against them. And then we get girl fights, and _those_ are a _real_ mess."

"A woman's scorn."

"Precisely. What were we talking about?"

"An exchange program of thoughts," Wilson posed, taking a sip of his tea. "Is there honey in this?"

"There is."

"Where did you get honey?"

"From bees—where else?"

"Never mind," Wilson said, waving her off. "I'm in need of a serious discussion here."

"All right then, shoot," Rae ordered, settling into a more comfortable position.

"You ask _her_ for a serious discussion?" Bakura asked.

Rae glared at the thief, prompting him to quickly scurry away.

Wilson gave it some thought, glanced at the rest of the group to assure himself that yes, they were settling into bed and not paying them much attention.

"We found the Millennium Puzzle, but we haven't solved any of our problems," Wilson pointed out.

"I thought the plan was to throw it on Yami and be done with it," Rae said, half-pointing.

"Ah yes—but that depended on Yami _not_ being aware of the consequences of wearing it. He's aware of them now, so who bells the cat?"

"You," Rae said. "It was _your_ idea."

"And now it's come back to bite me on my posterior element."

"And it was such a nice-looking posterior element before that bite got taken out."

"Now don't you start that again."

"You _did_ turn an interesting shade of red, I'll have you know."

"May we get back to topics of relevancy?"

"We may," Rae said, taking a drink of her tea. "It occurs to me that it might be easier to get the thing _on_ Yami now, what with no antlers to get in the way."

"Yes, but he'd see it coming."

"This is true."

"It's remarkably tempting to just run now and never look down the mountain again."

"I think that was the kids' idea, to be honest."

"Really…."

"There were some gestures that looked like _I'm not going back down this mountain ever again._ Accompanied by some verbal distaste regarding sand."

"So you can translate their little silent language."

"No, they were just transparent in their distaste for sand and the people living in it. So your new plan is to run back to Frostmore."

"Not run," Wilson clarified. "But I fear I've hit a wall now—I need more opinions on the matter, sad as it is to say. Hannah's always been a good sounding board, and Solomon has insider knowledge on how the Royals work—we could come up with a good third option there."

"What is this _we_ you speak of?"

"You _are_ coming, I would think."

"My home isn't in Frostmore."

Oh, right….With everything that was going on, that had completely slipped Wilson's mind. Running away wouldn't fix things for Rae. He massaged his forehead with his free hand.

"Now, don't be that way," Rae chided, sipping her tea. "I kind of want to see Frostmore anyway. And a fresh perspective might be just what we needed. Or we can tell the dragons about those lovely Royals—I bet if we ask nicely, they'd go blast the palace off the face of the earth."

"Somehow, I don't think that would solve our problems," Wilson said.

"It's just a suggestion."

Wilson sighed, slipped off the log to sit as Rae was, leaning back slightly and arms on the knees.

"I hate this," he muttered finally.

"Well that's good to know," Rae said. When he looked at her incredulously, she continued. "Let's recap, shall we? Beset upon by soldiers, Screechers, rabid monster dogs, weird furry abominable snowmen, bears, and dragons; up and down mountains; and let's not forget the avalanche. Did I forget anything?"

"Yugi fell into a lake, we all fell off a mountain, and that big deer-thing," Wilson added, ticking them off on his fingers. "And walking pine trees."

"Yes, all that. Add it all up, and this trip _sucked_. If you _liked_ it, I would have made you get your head examined."

Wilson coughed out a laugh at that.

"Wow, that sounded like it hurt," Rae pointed out. "When was the last time you actually _laughed?_ Like so-hard-you-couldn't-breathe laugh?"

"That sounds terribly impractical," Wilson said.

"Only you would think that." She gave it some thought. "Challenge accepted."

"What challenge?"

"Making you laugh so hard you can't breathe."

"I think you're trying to kill me in a way that doesn't waste bullets."

"That sounds like a plan. Paper and charcoal, please."

Wilson blinked at the sudden change in gears, but fished through his pack and handed over the requested items. Rae put her tea down, leaned over the paper, and started scribbling.

"'New goal in life,'" she declared as she wrote. "'Make Wilson a man.'"

"Well I never!"

"We'll put that on the list too then."

It took Wilson a few moments to recover enough from his spluttering fit to speak. "That is _not_ funny," he informed her.

"I can see that," she said, looking at him. "Obviously, we're going to have to try a different approach. 'Two men walked into a bar—'"

"'You'd have thought one of them would have seen it.' I've heard that one before, and I didn't find it funny—try the material on Yami if you're so desperate."

"Are you kidding me? It would go right over his head. And then he'd look to see if something really _did_ fly over his head."

"That does seem to be his style."

"It does. I need a different approach."

"You do."

"You don't have to agree with me."

"I'm sure. And horribly, it just occurred to me that we might become an elder version of Yugi and Willow."

"You _do_ have the hair for it."

"Did I ever tell you about the time Yugi asked Hannah if _I_ was his father?"

"Get out."

"Well, he was five or so at the time, so he didn't have a very good grasp on things…."

"My goodness, I can see the resemblance."

"Har har."

"That was a fake laugh."

"That was real."

"Uh-_huh."_

They were silent for the longest time, not talking, not needing to. Being next to each other was enough. Ugh, maybe the kids had a point. Not that he'd ever _tell_ them that—it'd go straight to their heads and then he'd never be able to do a thing with them.

He looked to Rae, made a hand motion that indicated them and then Yugi and Willow, making a face as he took in a breath to express his thoughts on the matter—

Rae took in the motion, glanced at those involved, then made an expression and a motion that very clearly expressed her disdain at the realization, closely followed by a shrug that said _what can you do?_

And just like that, the cipher was broken—Wilson suddenly and finally 'got' Yugi and Willow's unspoken language. It was so simple, really, so ridiculously simple—it just required understanding a person and that person understanding you.

That revelation, that beautiful revelation to something that had been plaguing him for ages, on top of everything that happened—he couldn't help it.

He started laughing.

Sort of a light nervous laugh at first, and then stronger as the tension left and he realized that yes, it felt good to laugh. In all honesty, he had never had much to laugh _at_ in life, but the part of him that always remained detached could definitely see the appeal. It also noted the fact that more than a few people were looking at him with concern.

"I don't think I've ever seen him laugh before," Tristan said to Joey.

"Me neither," Joey muttered. "I don't think I like it."

Wilson finally recovered and focused on taking deep breaths. Oh man….

"Wow," Rae noised. "I should make my next goal be being filthy stinking rich then."

"Ah," Wilson sighed. "But where would you spend it?"

"Good question." She gave that some thought before snapping her fingers. "I'd go find someplace that doesn't discriminate based on skin tone, buy the biggest honking building in town, and turn it into a library with a printing press in the basement. How's that sound?"

"A noble pursuit."

"Thank you, I'm glad you like it. Now mind telling me what was so funny?"

"I finally figured _those two_ out," he told her in an undertone, indicating Yugi and Willow—they were still eyeing him with concern, but finally going back to sleep, fortunately.

"Oh good—and here I thought I was going to have to explain it all to you."

Wilson coughed out another laugh before a thought occurred to him that sobered him up completely.

The Crown Prince had had moments such as he just had—and now didn't remember any of them. He'd never be able to have any meaningful interaction with anyone—Yugi and Willow had nearly frozen themselves hugging him. And from all their conversations—Yami was an empty shell. They were trying, but it would take a lifetime to fill him back up.

Although, Wilson supposed, hoping the Millennium Puzzle would magically fix him was a bit of a stretch, come to think of it.

He sighed heavily; this was shaping up to be quite the mess. No, wait—it had been shaping up to be quite the mess ages ago—_now_ it was a catastrophe bordering on those caused by the world-breaking weapons used eons ago.

Rae scooched closer to him.

"We'll figure it out," she told him. "It could be all we need is a change of location and some fresh perspectives. We'll set out for Frostmore in the morning—I know you like having _something_ to work towards."

"You know me so well," Wilson murmured drily.

"Yes. I also know you really hate travelling."

"Correction: I hate travelling with this group that gripes. I'm certain there are better ways to travel."

"I'm sure."

Wilson gave a sort of sideways nod; sighed again thinking of everything that still needed to be done, prompting Rae to jab him with an elbow.

"Get some sleep," she ordered. "We'll figure it out in the morning when we've got fresh batteries."

"I can't argue with that," Wilson said. "Good night then, Miss Rae."

"Good night, dear nerd."

"I'm not your dear. And I'm not a nerd."

"What are you then?"

"A highly intelligent gentleman scientist."

"And humble too."

"And what are you, then?"

"I am…myself," she replied, hunkering down and pulling her hat down low over her eyes. "I am an artist, a Bradbury-Orwell, and I would probably have made a very good cat. I'm comfortable in my skin, Mr. Higgsbury—are you?"

Oi. "I'm not dignifying that with a response," he replied, rolling so he didn't have to face her.

"By doing so, you did indeed dignify it with a response."

"Good _night,_ Miss Rae."

"Good night Wilson."

Again, oi. Although….

He rolled slightly to see Yami sitting by the cave entrance and watching the snow fall.

Inanely, he wondered if the Frost King was comfortable in his own skin. He sincerely doubted it, to be honest, simply because of Rae's first response.

_I am myself._

It was a simple enough statement, but one that said droves. Rae had accepted herself as she was, understanding that she couldn't please everyone and not even bothering. There were only two that needed pleasing anyway, and Rae was the only one on earth who could properly please herself; and Rae knew this.

_He knew what I was when I didn't have a clue._

Yami didn't.

Yami would always be looking to fill that void he didn't know he had.

It took Wilson a long time to fall asleep with the thoughts chasing themselves around in his head.

But sleep he finally did, still with his head buzzing.

What were they going to do?

_Help us,_ he thought before sleep fully overtook him. _Please._

_Help us._


	137. The Proposal

**Chapter 137, everybody! In which the Millennium Ring once again asserts itself as the most entertaining tertiary character we never realized was a tertiary character. I swear, I'm really starting to love that thing….And we also make a reference to the ****_Yu-Gi-Oh!: Abridged_**** series—I'm on the fence about that show: on the one hand, I find it somewhat funny with some good material; on the other hand, I find it too rude and crude at points to be fully enjoyable. Call me old-fashioned, but….And Yami's eminently calm response comes from a little comic I read on DeviantArt once that had a buildup similar to Bakura's, and ended with the punchline "I have a tiny moose." :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! I think so too—I have pretty much the whole rest of it outline, drafted, and several nice polished scenes waiting in the recesses of my mind, but they don't want to cooperate and get written down, and my brain wants to focus on a couple of stories that aren't destined to be posted for several months yet. ;-; I will finish this, though, even if it kills me or I have to go back and smooth everything out—I refuse to leave fanfics unfinished, because I know how frustrating it is to have a fanfic you like never be finished. I need to know that too, come to think of it….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! I…don't either…but something will definitely happen, I can guarantee it. Ouch—hope you get feeling better. :( Yes, I do—sort of. Combine that with animals and college, and I end up working until midnight most days—I should probably spend less time surfing FanFiction and DeviantArt, come to think of it….Yes indeed—and so scientifically minded: "It's all piney." :D Shh—don't tell him (I'll put it on my to-do list—which is as long as my arm, depressingly…). Ah, thank you. :D Yes they are….And if only….Yes, hop to! Just don't hurt yourself any more. D:**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Pirates of the Caribbean © 2003 Gore Verbinski (the Ring, once again, shows itself to be a movie buff…)**

**The Lone Ranger (movie) © 2013 Gore Verbinski (again, the Ring…)**

**Zootopia © 2016 Disney ("You know you love me")**

**The Hobbit © 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien**

**Toy Story © 1995 Pixar ("Now is the perfect time to panic!")**

**Shrek © 2001 DreamWorks ("And even if I do—which I ****_don't!"_****)**

**Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix © 2003 (book); 2007 (movie) (again, the Ring…)**

**The Golden Girls © 1985 Susan Harris (the "Better than anyone I know" exchange comes from that show)**

**The Curse of Monkey Island © 1997 Lucasarts ("Bakura, stop babbling")**

**The Proposal ****© 2009 Anne Fletcher (the name of the chapter)**

Bakura retreated to Teana's side, grumbling.

"Now what?" Teana asked, sounding amused.

"Don't laugh," he ordered, sitting down. "I just question the thought processes of a certain nerd who thinks he's in charge here."

"Maybe if you tried harder to play nice with the other kids."

"I don't want to play nice with the other kids."

"And therein lies your problem."

"What do you mean?"

Teana sighed. "Sometimes I wonder about you, I'll have you know."

"You know you love me."

"Yes, yes I do."

Okay, he had really only said it on reflex, and he was sure Teana had too, but still…he was having to work very hard to ignore the rather smug feeling emanating from the Millennium Ring.

"So now what?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?"

Erm…."We found the Millennium Puzzle."

"Technically Yugi found it."

"Details…."

"They _are_ important."

Hmph. "Well then, about the little detail about the Crown Prince…."

Teana glanced over at the Frost King, happily loitering around now that he didn't have the Millennium Puzzle shoved in his face. They may have wanted privacy, but everyone had deduced the end result from Yugi depositing the Puzzle by the wall instead of it being around his or the Frost King's neck. They had come all this way for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

_You still have a little something in your pocket._

"What's in my pocket?" Bakura asked, startled by the Ring once again making its opinion known.

_Don't play the idiot._

"Are you trying to start up that story Wilson and Rae have been working on, about that hobbit?" Teana asked.

"I honestly think that story's about us," Bakura protested, pointing at Yugi. "We've got a hobbit over _there_, and I've got a Ring—"

_You've got two rings, actually._

"And I'm legitimately starting to worry that Wilson may be right and the Ring is driving me insane."

It was at that point Wilson burst out laughing, eventually keeling over and gasping for air.

Everyone stared.

"And now I think _he's_ cracked," Bakura muttered, as Joey and Tristan made their opinions known.

"It's been a long trip," Teana countered.

"That's no excuse."

"Right. And you've been a right ball of sunshine this whole way."

Oop. Kiss that earlier worry goodbye.

"Don't start sulking," Teana ordered. "It's not becoming."

"We're no closer to getting the Crown Prince back," Bakura decided to point out. "I think now's the perfect time to sulk."

"Not necessarily," Teana said, watching the Frost King. "We have something approaching closure now."

"First of all, I am _not_ for one minute believing that that thing is the Crown Prince. And even if I did—which I'm not—we're still no closer to closure because if it is—which it isn't—then he's got a major case of amnesia, which is pretty sad once you think about it—"

"Careful, Bakura, your empathy is showing," Teana teased, smiling. "But consider this—have you ever seen him this happy around Yugi before?"

This was assuming that this was comparable to that, which it wasn't. "What are you angling at?"

"I think this might have been a good thing."

"What on earth makes you think this was a good thing?" he asked, fighting to keep his voice at a controlled hiss. "We're up here freezing our extremities off, fighting monsters—_you_ were snatched by a _dragon_—_how can you be so calm!?"_

The Frost King had wandered over, perusing the camp; stopped in front of them and bobbed his head at Bakura's outburst.

"I had biscuits-and-bacon for dinner," the Frost King supplied happily.

"There, see?" Teana asked, pointing. "It's the little things that count."

_Paging Thief Prince Bakura_, the Ring chimed. _If you're waiting for the opportune moment—that was it._

Bakura buried his face in his hands, freed one up to wave the Frost King off. "Shoo," he ordered. When the cold feeling transferred itself to his feet, he looked up in irritation to properly wave off the Frost King, who was now examining Bakura's feet. "No, not _shoe—_go bother someone else."

The Frost King tipped his head in confusion, but obliged just the same.

"See?" Bakura asked, pointing after the Frost King. "The Crown Prince would have argued the point."

Teana's expression was inscrutable. "You spend a decade as a magic snow creature and see if _you_ don't mellow out."

Bakura made a face at that, irritated by the fact that he was unable to counter, and flopped back against the boulder they were sitting against.

_Aaand you missed the opportune moment—congratulations._

And now he was sorely tempted to pitch the Millennium Ring—it was no help at all.

_Don't blame me—you're the one with the emotional range of a teaspoon._

And now it was being insulting. At this point, he'd have rather been boiled from the inside out.

_You torment yourself just fine without my help—after all, you must be a glutton for punishment, stringing yourself along for so many years instead of saying what you mean._

That—wasn't fair. Teana was like a sister to him.

_Again, your reaction when she was snatched was not that of your sister being snatched—that was Joey's reaction. Your reaction was that of one who has lost someone whom he's never told means the world to him._

Okay, firstly, not going there. Secondly, he was _not_ doing _mush,_ and thirdly, _do you mind!?_

_Not at all. And if you want me to stop, then ask her. If you do, I promise I'll never ask again._

Bakura wondered if he could get that in writing.

_I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I don't have hands._

It didn't have a mouth, either, but that didn't shut it up.

_And otherwise, you'll be going on and on as you have been, slowly and quietly torturing yourself until you make the way you are now look like the 'right ball of sunshine' Teana mentioned. And I'm not sure if you've noticed, but her romantic notions towards the Crown Prince have—pardon the pun—cooled somewhat._

Oi.

_Just do it—it won't kill you._

It could—why take the chance?

_Do it._

Fine, fine….

"Can I ask you a dumb question?" Bakura asked, turning to Teana.

"Better than anyone I know," Rae muttered from under her hat.

"_You're_ supposed to be asleep."

Rae lifted her hat to examine the rest of the group, glanced at Wilson, and then gave Bakura a gesture that he was certain the gentleman scientist wouldn't have approved of. Bakura waved her off.

"So what did you want to ask me?" Teana asked when Rae went back to her resting position.

Oi vey—why did he suddenly feel like he had to throw up? "Well," he hedged. "I don't want to seem like the rebound guy or anything—"

Teana looked genuinely baffled. "From _what_? I haven't been with…_you know…_for almost a decade!"

"It's still a thing. And I know our current relationship works and I don't want to ruin it or anything because I really do like you as a friend—"

"Bakura, stop babbling."

Right. Clever thief hands lost their cleverness as he fumbled in his pocket for the tiny circle of gold—maybe if he was lucky he'd turn invisible if he slipped it on; the way his face was burning, he'd melt the snow clean off the mountain.

"Ah, well, what I'm trying to ask is…." There it was—very, very gingerly hold it up for her examination. "Ah…Teana, will you marry me?"

She stared at it for the longest time. The. Longest. Time. To the point that he was seriously starting to feel antsy. Very antsy. Insects couldn't survive up this high, could they?

And then she looked at him—

And broke into a grin.

"It's about _time_ you asked me," she chided, sounding like she was struggling not to laugh.

He had no idea how to react to that. "Meaning?..." he asked.

She leaned in and kissed him on the nose. "Meaning yes," she clarified.

Oh. Oh wow….

Him hugging her was more an exercise in catching himself from a sagging fall—but it was out there, it was done, she said yes….And the Frost King was looking pretty happy from his perch by the cavern mouth, so maybe he wouldn't be too sore when…if…oh boy….

_So,_ the Millennium Ring noised, again sounding rather smug. _Where are you two getting registered?_


	138. The Frost King and the Dragonet

**Chapter 138, everyone, which I have no excuse for posting late, especially considering I actually had this one done ahead. I need to budget my time better….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Aha, it threw me for a loop too—I had not intended Teana and Bakura to end up together, but when I started going through the story, in both puzzling it out and writing it down, Bakura and Teana kept gravitating to each other. It makes sense, I suppose, considering they've been together-ish for the past ten years and Teana's beau has been AWOL during that time. A bit….And in all honesty, I couldn't either until I read some rather well-written fanfiction putting those two together. Willow is a character from ****_Don't Starve_****, so I suppose she represents herself…and yeah, those two are kind of cute together (even with me agreeing with you on Yugi and Téa). :D Me too….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, it took him long enough….This is true….And ooh, pity—and good gaming achievement. Yes, well, it helped that I told my parents it was a thing recommended by college and that it was a New Year's Resolution. Saying that, I should really stop working until midnight—it's not healthy. Eh, not really—but considering you're not going to be very mobile for a while, this might be a good time to start knocking stuff off your list. ;) Get better soon! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Yami was dozing by the cavern entrance, feeling rather good about himself.

They were going back to Frostmore, everyone was looking pretty happy…life was good. He was happy. He was content….

He couldn't get to sleep, for some reason.

He rolled to his feet, shook himself—he was probably excited to get back to Frostmore. That was it. He missed it. And he certainly didn't feel like sitting still right now—maybe a nice refreshing romp in the snow would help.

He gently picked his way to the cavern mouth, making sure he didn't stir up any flurries to wake anyone up, and once he was out, he set to rolling and rollicking and romping around. Ah, he missed just goofing off like this. But it wasn't as fun without someone to do it with. He wondered if Yugi or Willow would object to him waking them up—or maybe one of the dragonlets! They ought to know about the fun of playing in the snow—

He looked back to the cave mouth to see the youngest dragonlet, Kai, sitting there watching him.

"Hey!" Yami greeted. "You should come out here—it's fun."

Kai tipped his head, like he was thinking about it. Yami took the opportunity to demonstrate just how much fun it was to romp around in the snow, thinking that it was a pity it was soft fluffy snow and not nice wet snow that could be snowballs or snowmen or snow forts or—

"Why didn't you take it?"

Yami jarred to a stop, looked at the only one who could have said it. "Huh?"

"Why didn't you take the pendant they gave you?" Kai asked—Yami was surprised; he had been beginning to think the little dragon couldn't talk at all.

"I didn't like it," Yami said, sitting down. "Isn't that reason enough?"

Kai nodded once. "But it sounds like they went to a lot of trouble to find it—not taking it is…kind of rude."

Oh. Yami hadn't thought of it that way….And to go to all that trouble just for him….

"But it wasn't for me," Yami said, both for his and Kai's sakes. "They wanted it for the Crown Prince—I'm not him."

"Are you sure?" Kai asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sure you're not the Crown Prince?"

"Pretty sure," Yami said, thinking on it. "I don't like how the Crown Prince sounds—he sounds arrogant and mean and like a real jerk, not very likeable. Bakura was like that too, but then he got better."

Kai nodded once again. "Maybe you were the Crown Prince, but you got better."

Yami blinked at that. He…didn't know how to respond to that, actually….

"Mom says the pendant has an enchantment on it."

"Okay," Yami said. "I kind of thought it did—it smelled funny, like Bakura's Ring."

"This is different."

"How?"

"Mom says so, and I can smell it too—the Ring is its own thing. The pendant is holding something."

Yami swallowed. "I…maybe we should get rid of it."

"But what if it's holding memories?"

"Holding what?"

"Holding memories—how you remember what's happened before."

"Oh. What if it's not?"

Kai came forward and sat in front of him. "Do you have any family?"

That—was a question Yami was entirely not expecting. "What?"

"Do you have any family? Like a mom and a dad and sisters and brothers?"

Yami gave that some thought. "No…no, I just…woke up on a mountain one night."

"Family is important," Kai informed him.

"Is it?"

"It is."

"And what is family?"

Kai looked like he was trying for one of Wilson's longsuffering faces. "Moms and dads and sisters and brothers. Like I've got." He pointed with his snout where the fire was still somewhat burning. "Like they've got. A place to belong that isn't really a place, but those who love you and hug you and snug you and care for you—and sometimes bug you, but you love them anyway."

Yami stared, suddenly happy-excited that—

That….

He remembered Yugi and Willow trying to hug him, remembered how everyone was very careful not to touch him, how he missed being petted by Serenity….

They may care for him, and they may love him…but he'd never fully belong, not really. His presence would always, even unintentionally, be dangerous to them.

No—no, that wasn't true. He could control it, kind of. He could keep from freezing them—

Just like he had _not_ kept from frosting Yugi and Willow.

Yami sagged entirely, head bowing, trying to find the bright spot in that new volley of information—they always had fire, right? Willow could make it in her hand, right?—when Kai bumped noses with him, prompting him to look back up. And note the frost on Kai's nose.

"I think I've figured it out," Kai declared. "They think the pendant is for you, right? Maybe it has memories for you from _before_ you woke up on that mountain. And maybe it has memories of moms and dads and sisters and brothers—your family, where you belong."

Yami stared at the dragon for the longest time, feeling something burning—burning, so that was what this was—in his chest. It was entirely unpleasant.

"Why," Yami asked finally. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you helped me find my family again," Kai said simply. "I want to help you find yours."

That—he….

He had a point.

Yami looked, eyed the Millennium Puzzle—still with distrust, but maybe with an edge of hope to it. It could have the secret to where all of the Frost Kings (and Frost Queens, remembering Willow's comments) were—he could…he could….

"I need to get everyone to Frostmore first," Yami said. "Then I'll—"

He cut himself off when he saw Kai shaking his head. "Do it now," Kai ordered. "If you don't, you'll talk yourself out of it. Besides, it won't be fair to the rest of them if you keep them waiting—they want to know too."

Okay, that was what Wilson liked to call a fair point. "Okay," Yami said, standing. "I'll do it."

He padded into the cavern, stopped, eyed the group carefully to make sure they were all still asleep. This group that had given him so much, that he couldn't hope to repay, that had given him more than he could have ever wished for.

He crossed over for the moment, hovered over Yugi and Willow—always sleeping curled up next to each other—Wilson and Rae, looking like they didn't want to be curled up next to each other but doing so anyway. Joey and Serenity and Tristan, rarely if ever separated, and Teana and Bakura—both looking much happier now that Bakura had given Teana that ring. Yami didn't quite understand why it was such a big deal—he'd have to ask Wilson later.

His mouth felt dry. He wondered why.

Kai nudged him, tipped his head back to indicate the Millennium Puzzle. Yami gave the group one last long look before going over to stand before the Millennium Puzzle. Tail still, fur drooping, ears flat. He didn't like this one bit. Not at all.

"I don't know what to do," he told Kai.

"Mom told me about things like this," Kai explained. "I think you just touch it."

"How?"

"I guess with your claws?"

"And then what?"

"I think it just works."

Yami nodded, licked his lips—it didn't work; it just felt like he had just ate a ton of Wilson's yucky jerky, and nothing was ever going to rid him of that feeling in his mouth. He lifted a foreclaw, gave that up as feeling unnatural, laid down, inched forward bit by bit, stomach feeling twisty and knotty and nasty like it had when he had tried the wolves' kill once, frost skittering away from him as he more and more felt this was a bad, terrible, rotten idea—

And then his nose touched the eye of the Millennium Puzzle.


	139. The Crown Prince's Story

**Chapter 139, everybody! Yes, ****_I LIVE!_**** And not to tell you that this is being abandoned, either—I hate that. :( I also hate being one of those people who don't update for the longest time; honestly, this month-long hiatus was entirely unintentional, and stemmed from boiling hot weather, my buffer running out, and inspiration going everywhere else. Rest assured, this story ****_will_**** be completed, hopefully before its third anniversary rolls around.**

**So! To make up for such a long delay, have an extra-long chapter—over eight pages in Microsoft Word—detailing the final fate of the Crown Prince….And in which some random guy mentions the song "Snoopy Versus the Red Baron" by the Royal Guardsmen. :\**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes he did—this will be interesting….And good question! Fortunately, we're back on track to finding out. And we'll see….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Maybe….Yes, and for our next trick: nothing happened. The end. *bricked* This is true—I wasted a good chunk of my long weekend playing ****_Civilization V_****. Keep trying—or offer to wash windows, that worked for me once. Yes…and apparently, I need to work on my procrastinating problem as well….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Crown Prince Yami tucked his head away from the cold wind cutting through the mountain pass. Ugh, he hated this weather. This was _terrible_ weather. Give him warm sun and sand any day of the week.

Saying that, he wasn't in any hurry to go back home to the Sunlit Kingdom. It would be too much to hope that his father had somehow overcome his grief and returned to normal—his luck just simply wasn't that good.

For example—instead of dying down, the wind was picking up, turning the little snowflakes into projectile missiles. _Sandstorms_ weren't this bad—at least with sandstorms he was warm.

And he'd be trapped when he was warm again.

The guards that that Pale Skin Ushio had assigned to him had insisted on picking out a path ahead of him, despite his wanting to be in the lead—what was with these people, that they didn't listen to him? Or if they did, it was with this _aww, look at him play leader_ look—like he was his little cousin. _Ugh_. He was about to become the ruler of an entire kingdom, for crying out loud!

A thought that made him imminently sick.

He didn't want to run the country. He wanted things to go back to the way they were, with him and his friends routinely goofing off and pestering whoever happened to be handy. This was a massive inconvenience to say the least—being forced to…well, for lack of a better term, _grow up_.

And despite knowing that Pale Skins thought differently than Tan Skins, he worried that everyone would look at him and think _aww, look at him play leader._

At least he had this—this one last hurrah before he was forced to be a serious grouch like his surviving uncle. To be honest, he was surprised that Akenhadin allowed for this trip—maybe it was because of the sheer number of people present. Although it definitely put a cramp in his style—this was supposed to be _his_ adventure, and it was being ruined by people insisting that he be _safe_. To use that one Pale Skin word: oi.

He wished Bakura and Teana were there—this _had_ been a thing all three of them had planned; but when push came to shove, Bakura had balked at actually being _cold_. At the time, Yami had enjoyed teasing him about it. Now, he understood where he was coming from.

He wondered how they were doing.

_Warmer than me,_ he thought, scrunching down further into his long winter coat—dark blue lined with white fur. And yet he was _still_ freezing. What was that Wilson had delighted in describing? Frostbite? All his extremities would go first. Yay for him. And then hypothermia, and then death. But from the sounds of it, at least he'd be warm before he died. Or just not care at that point. That could work too.

No. No way—he'd survive this, go down and have a good laugh and wave the Frozen Heart right under Bakura's nose—

And then be locked to his father's throne for the rest of his life.

No…be locked to _his_ throne.

He most certainly didn't want that—he wanted his freedom back, not this…this gallows freedom. Was this what the prisoners felt like while they were waiting for the hangman to tie the noose?

"Hey!"

Yami looked up sharply as one of the royal guardsmen—he didn't remember the name; someone had said the name _Snoopy_, but he couldn't be bothered to remember who—waved, alerting the rest of the Pale Skin contingent. "I think I found something!"

"A bear, if you keep yelling like that," another guard said, heading up the slope to where the first one was. Yami quickly tried to follow, resisted and then resignedly accepted another guard's help in navigating the treacherous snow—ugh, he hated this stuff. Give him sand any day of the week.

Give him freedom any day of the week….

"There's like," the first guard said, when they reached his level. "You said there'd be like a marker thing, and then a little path thing—" The guard pointed at a carving that looked like a strange swirl with two creatures in it, and then pointed into the crevasse it marked—

The wind shifted, sending the wind whistling through the crevasse and amongst the huge blades of ice standing within.

"That's…different," one guard said.

"It must be from up there," another said, pointing at the opening of the crevasse far above. "The snow melts during the day, forms a sheet of ice when it refreezes at night, and eventually, the ice loosens and…." He made a whistling noise as he pointed down to the ice blades. "Blammo."

Yami kind of missed the Tan Skin way of speaking—specifically when met with words like _blammo_. _Blammo_ wasn't appropriate when going on a life-or-death adventure.

"Come on then," Yami said, stepping forward and forcing the others to do the same. "The sooner we get through this, the sooner we can get back to camp."

There was a murmur of appreciation at that.

"And let's keep it down, okay?" one guard said, keeping an eye out for the cliff edges above them. "We don't want to cause any more ice to fall."

Oh yeah—and then there was that.

_You wanted a death-defying adventure,_ he reminded himself, in that little voice that frequently sounded like Teana.

Now here was hoping he'd live long enough to receive her scolding in person.

* * *

The crevasse led into a maze, and if it wasn't for the notes he and Bakura had painstakingly drawn up, they'd be hopelessly lost. As it were, they were hopefully lost.

He paused to consult his notes again—he and Bakura had spent hours consulting every possible source in search of the world's greatest treasures, and while the Frozen Heart wasn't way up there, it was closer than most of the others, and he was more likely to be allowed to go after it than to, say, seek out the Pale Skin's lost land across the now-not-so-endless ocean.

That had always been a bit peculiar to Yami, to be honest—the Pale Skins had always been purposefully vague on the matter of why they left their homeland, only saying that they left because of monsters. It had been part of Yami's plan to mount an expedition to find that lost land, an act that would have taken several years to accomplish and would have been shot down by anyone he proposed it to, be it Tan Skin or Pale Skin. He had mentioned it to Wilson _once_—which had cemented his early dislike of the man. He did _not_ need to be treated like a dunce or a dunderhead—who did that guy think he was, anyway?

He lost one of his papers, swore under his breath, swore again when the wind caught it and struck it against one of the ice blades, causing it to be sliced clean in half. Not good.

"Are we getting close?" someone asked.

No. Yami was feeling his lost sensation drifting towards _hopeless_—his notes were no good, had probably ceased to be useful some time ago. He picked out a direction at random and started walking, simply to have something to do. They couldn't stop in these crevasses—he didn't want to be around when one of those ice blades fell.

"Hey," one of the guards said. When Yami kept going, the guard actually reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hey!"

"_What!"_ Yami snapped, pulling away—Royals were _not_ to be touched!

In response, the guardsman pointed at the wall of an adjacent path. "I think it's another marker!"

That would have been too easy. Yami struggled forward, scowling, brushed the snow away—

That same weird marker as before.

The particular guardsman who had picked it out nodded, satisfaction on his youthful face. "Like little arrows pointing us in the right direction!"

"Or into a trap," Yami pointed out, not enjoying someone else solving the puzzle first.

"We'll just be careful then," another guard pointed out, forging ahead.

Yami was somewhat torn—on the one hand, he liked the fact that these people were actually into this and eager for adventure; on the other, he was irked that _he_ was the one being sensible and not running smack into things.

Which is precisely what made him hasten after the guardsman already checking out the marked path.

There were a few more such forks, with everyone—Yami included, quickly enough—seeking out and finding the markers and forging ahead. The path started heading upwards—a good sign, Yami felt.

And then they were out of the maze of crevasses, and the storm was hitting them full force.

"Hey," one guy said, pointing down the slope. "We could have come up _that_ way—there's no maze _that_ way!"

"It wouldn't have been the same," another said.

"And it probably means we missed something," Yami muttered, before spotting something.

"There's a cliff there, genius—it's just hidden in this white-out," another guardsman said, still persisting with the previous conversation before spotting Yami struggling away. "Hey! Wait up!"

Yami made it to the shelter of a row of strange pyramid-shaped trees before stopping. Hoo, better….

"Thanks for the protection from the elements, tree," he muttered as the others caught up.

"A bunch of pine trees in a row in the middle of nowhere," the youngest guardsman said. "Not odd at all."

"It's a good sign," Yami pointed out. "We're on the right track this way."

"Can I question the wisdom of this?" the oldest guardsman said, tugging on his bowstring to see if it had frozen yet. "Someone puts a thing in the middle of nowhere—think they intended it not to be touched?"

"Ah, but I have a need to touch it," Yami said, peering up the slope. "It's a gem the size of your fist with a lot of lore attached to it—why _not?"_

"Because you already have a lot of fist-sized gems?" one of the other guardsmen asked.

The youngest was already forging ahead. "Come on then! Let's see what's up there!"

Yami muttered a muted curse before hurrying after him—_he_ was going to be the one to find this thing, no ifs ands or buts. Fortunately, the guardsman seemed to sense this, because he stopped to scan the area and allowed Yami to take point—

They were in the wind again, but he didn't care—he saw the pillars looming strangely in the growing gloom….It must be getting dark out.

And then he _reached_ the platform—

There.

There, in the middle of a strangely windless circle of stone, on a pedestal—a beautiful glittering blue gem, about the size of his fist: the Frozen Heart.

"Uh," the youngest guardsman said as Yami stepped forward. "You be careful, all right?"

Yami most certainly had not come all this way to die _now_—and he had memorized the steps, the different stones he was to step on, on this strange cobblestone mosaic laid out in the same way as the swirling symbols…this stage, at least, was not going to be difficult, and he quickly picked his way through.

_Getting_ the gem, on the other hand….

The stories indicated that it was freezing cold to the touch, had the magic of the mountains in it, untold power, blah blah blah….So did the Millennium Puzzle, and yet he had never noticed anything magical about it.

He was still careful in picking up the gem, wrapping it in cloth before picking it up with his mittened hands, holding his breath as he did so….

And then it was his.

"I got it," he breathed, after a few tense moments of waiting for something bad to happen. "I got it!" he called, turning to face—

Oh.

Something bad had indeed happened, and it caused the bottom to drop out of his stomach.

The soldiers were dead. Murdered, brutally, by furry monsters with nasty teeth and glowing green swords and eyes—

And a guy in the middle, in a green and white robe, with green hair, one green eye and one yellow eye—clapping slowly.

"And here I was led to believe getting that gem would be difficult," the man said. "Obviously, 'pure of heart' wasn't on the list, knowing _your_ antics—I'm sure _he_ had some other safeguard in place, but that's out of the way now. Give it to me."

"Who are you?" Yami asked, finding his voice again. "And who is the _he_ you're talking about?"

"Me? I am Dartz, king of Atlantis," the man said, splaying his hand on his chest. "As for the _he—_just an ongoing rivalry I have with a monster. I'm sure the Pale Skins would love to tell you all about it, if you live to see one again."

"That's not much incentive for me to cooperate, now is it?" Yami asked, regaining some of his bite; he quickly tucked the gem in an inside chest pocket—and regretted that instantly. Hoo boy, that was _cold_….

And Atlantis—he had heard of it before. A sunken kingdom doomed by its king—it was a cautionary tale for all kingdoms and rulers. Why would this guy say he was the king of Atlantis, then?

"You're right, it's not," Dartz agreed, clasping his hands in front of him—like they weren't having this conversation in frigid temperatures. And Yami noticed the furry monsters weren't risking coming any closer….

"How about this then," Dartz continued. "You hand that gem over, and I ensure you _don't_ have to do what you dread most."

Yami raised an eyebrow, hating his heart for leaping in his chest at the wording presented. "Why? Because I'll be dead?"

Dartz's smile was a grim line—ah, caught you. "Only someone with hair like yours would jump to such a conclusion."

"Excuse me?" Yami _liked_ his hair, thank you very much!

"I wouldn't expect you to understand. So, let me lay it out in plain speech for you: give me the gem, and I won't kill you."

"And why is this so important to you?"

"My enemies see the cold as a weakness—I wish to exploit it."

Uh-huh—no. That description fit the Sunlit Kingdom handily, and he wasn't about to let that happen.

So in response, he drew his sword and assumed a fighting stance—trick them into coming in and stepping on the wrong thing, and _blammo_.

His stomach lurched when he realized that the guy who said it was now dead and being steadily buried in driving snow.

"You want it?" Yami snarled. "You're going to have to take it from my cold, dead body."

Dartz nodded. "As you wish."

And before Yami could react, Dartz shot a bolt of magic straight at him, catching him in the chest and sending him skidding—

"A broken neck will do nicely, don't you think?" Dartz asked. "Just knock you out of this protective circle, and my beasts can bring me your broken corpse!"

Oh boy—look down in a moment of confusion; the various symbols were all now one, the eye that was on his Puzzle. And there was this blue light—

And then Dartz was firing again—

Yami dodged, rolled away, nearly brought himself within range of one of the monsters—Dartz shot his sword out of his hand, aimed another at his body—

The Puzzle glowed, diffusing the green bolt and making it fade away.

"A valiant effort," Dartz snarled, readying another blast—his temper had obviously been lost. "But my magic is stronger."

Yami dodged again, tried to snatch up a rock to bean against Dartz's head—but the cold had been sapping his strength all day, and his limbs were numb, and—

And he caught a full blast of green lightning straight in his chest—

And then he was flying through the air all catawampus—

And his last thought before impact was that landing was going to so very much hurt.

* * *

The impact following the spinning trip through the air sent the Millennium Puzzle flying away from Yami's body and tumbling down the mountain, coming to rest in a valley filled with ice and snow. It glowed briefly in the last of the dying light, before returning to its muted gold colors and being rapidly coated with snow….

But not before a white dragon spotted it, swooping down and plucking it up to add to his horde as he headed home to his mate.

As for the Puzzle's owner….

Yami had been correct in feeling that his landing was going to hurt—a hard impact on unforgiving slate and ice fractured several bones, knocked the wind out of him, and jarred him into unconsciousness. He had cracked his skull against the rock, and was bleeding from several scrapes and a large gash on his forehead. It seemed his fate was to either bleed or freeze to death, lost in a harsh mountain range.

Except the impact had also loosened the Frozen Heart in his pocket, so its cold was now seeping through his clothes and into his body.

And as his last thought before losing all thought altogether seeped away—_Not here…I don't want to die here…._

The storm increased in intensity as the magic within the Frozen Heart suddenly flared—light of every color stabbed through the rolling clouds, the Aurora Borealis reaching down to earth as every animal and walking pine tree as far as three mountains over cried out to the sky without knowing why—

And then it was done.

The Crown Prince was no more.

* * *

Wind stirring his fur nudged him back to consciousness. Fur…something about that seemed slightly off somehow…but when he tried to grasp it, it slipped away like…like….

Something wet tickled his nose, and there was a green light that was getting unbearable….

He opened his eyes, blinked blearily…where was he? What was—

_Woah._

The sight before him stirred him to wakefulness—he lifted his head to better see.

It was a clear, starry night in the snowy mountains, and all sorts of colorful lights danced in the sky. It was…it was…it was beyond his ability to describe, but it made him feel…happy. Right. That was it.

A breeze stirred again, and he knew it was the last dregs of a winter storm that had recently raged. How did he know that?...

But it felt good—it felt really good. He lifted his head so the breeze slid across his neck and stirred his fur and made his back ache with the need to jump into the air—

He got to his feet, stood on his hind legs, quickly dropped down to all fours when the action threatened to unbalance him. He glanced back—bluish white fur formed a thick ruff around his shoulders and ran down his chest and back; a fluffy tail swished back and forth, and the darker blue of his coat seemed to blend into the night. And folded against his back—wings. Frost-webbed wings with joints encased in…ice. That's what that was.

He tipped his head—nearly lost his balance when the action moved more weight than he was expecting. Reach up—long curving things, thick mane…and ears, he decided, tugging on one and feeling it swivel away. His forelegs ended in long curving claws, pale in color but darkening at the tips until they were black. And for some reason, they didn't match his feet, which were broader and fluffier.

The wind blew again, this time from a different direction. And a different direction, and a different—

He spun in circles, trying to sense everything at once, thrilled and excited without being able to say why. This was—this was—

This was starting to make him a little dizzy.

He stopped, shook his head, dislodged something in the blank slate of his mind—Yami. That was…him. Okay. That was…that was….

That was different.

His ears pricked as he stared at the new color in the landscape, a tiny pinprick off in the distance. It was…orange. That was the color. It was pretty.

It was something he wanted to check out. Something in the slurry steadily fading away told him it was important, but what was left behind told him it was interesting.

A few moments of stretching muscle, of straining wings out, of feeling the breeze strengthen as he unintentionally brought forth the storm needed to bear him to that spot of interest—

And then coiling down—

And springing into the air, wings snapping out and forelegs naturally tucking in as he glided away and gently down the mountain, nose tipped and lungs straining with all the _new_ to be experienced.

Off, he felt, to find an adventure.


	140. Howling Blizzards

**Could it be…is it possible?...YES! Chapter 140 is here finally! Apologies for the long wait—just know that I suck and apparently didn't want to end this, but cold weather and a mental boot up my behind is once again kicking this story into gear! Now to actually finish it….**

**In the meantime, we find out what happens now that Yami has regained his memories….And we have a call-back all the way back to Chapter 3.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Oh wow, really? Thank you—wasn't sure if it was strong enough, but glad you liked it! Must have had something right there….This is true. This is also true—but playing it every day while on vacation has finally worn it out for me, so there. It will—window-washing is the chore to do when wanting something (mostly because it's not a fun job—you'll be feeling like Daniel-san on ****_The Karate Kid_**** by the time you finish). Thank you! I still prefer doing this on a regular basis though…hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Me too—and I'm happy I've got this chapter up finally too. Emotions are hard….Yes! Glad it makes sense—and yes, unfortunately….Well, there might be more than that….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Age of Fire series © 2005 E.E. Knight (the wolves' gathering being called a thing comes from that series)**

**Balto © 1995 Universal Pictures &amp; Amblin Entertainment (had the track "Heritage of the Wolf" and the corresponding scene in my head during this chapter)**

Yugi stirred to wakefulness, hastened on his way by a warm scaly nose poking around his face.

"Hey—hey!" he yelped, squirming away from Kechara's poking.

"You need to wake up!" she barked. "You need to _see_…."

Yugi sat up, looked to where she pointed with her nose—

"Wow," Yugi breathed. "Now that's a storm."

It was indeed—a complete white-out from the entrance of the cave on, snow drifting in and staining the rocks white a good ten feet in. If it weren't for their location, they would have been absolutely frozen. As it were, the cavern went a good forty feet in before turning into a corner and then the dragons' cavern. Not that they were _in_ that cavern—Wilson may have been willing to acknowledge the dragons' hospitality, but he wasn't about to impede too much on it: it offended his sense of gentlemanly considerations. That, and he wanted a clear shot to the exit should the need arise.

Yugi had the feeling that even if the need were to arise, they wouldn't be able to act on it. That was such a blizzard that not even Yami would be able to work his way through that.

…Where was Yami, anyway?

Yugi figured probably out in the snow, and didn't think too much of it until breakfast was ready.

"I don't want to stick my head out there and call him in," Yugi said to Willow.

"I don't either," Willow said. "But someone's going to have to do it eventually, and I vote you."

"You're so kind to me," Yugi said brightly, before quickly switching over to grumbling as he shuffled down the tunnel. He had been _warm,_ and he _liked_ warm—this blizzard was of the _blow snow down every possible crack in your warm bundling _variety.

"Yami!" he hollered upon reaching the edge of the whiteness. "Breakfast! There's bacon involved!"

Nothing. He hollered again, with similar results.

"Okay, fine, have it your way," Yugi muttered, turning to come back in—

He heard sniffling, looked—little Kai, facing out into the blizzard, sitting by the wall on the very edge of the white of the cavern floor, every line of his body denoting despondence. Yugi wondered what could have possibly upset the little dragon.

"Hey," he said, coming over. "What's wrong?"

Kai looked at him, eyes wide, moist, and upset.

"I thought I was helping him."

Yugi blinked—he had never heard Kai talk, and had simply assumed he couldn't; Rae's comment about assuming (told to them behind Wilson's back) came back to him inanely.

"Huh?" Yugi noised, recovering.

"I thought I was helping him," Kai repeated thickly. "Because you all helped us, and I thought I was helping to pay you back." He sniffled again and rubbed at his nose. "I thought I was helping him find his family. But I was wrong—I just made it worse."

And then Kai started wailing.

"Hey! Hey! Come on, don't cry," Yugi said quickly, kneeling next to Kai and absolutely unsure how to go about comforting the little dragonet.

"What's going on?" Willow asked, running up.

"I don't know—he was—and then he started crying and….I don't know."

"Yeah," Willow said drily, giving him a half-lidded stare. "That made perfect sense."

"It did?"

"I was being sarcastic." Willow kneeled to start petting Kai, who quickly buried his head against her chest, still sobbing.

"What's going on here?" Kisara demanded, coming to the cavern mouth. "Kai, what's the matter with you?"

"I made it worse!" Kai wailed. "I thought I was helping, but I made it worse! And now he's _gone!"_

Yugi blinked, looked at Willow—

"What are you talking about?" Willow asked. "Who's gone?"

Yugi had an unfortunate idea.

"Kai," Yugi said carefully. "Are you talking about Yami?"

The way Kai went quiet and stared at him said it all.

"H-he said to tell you he's sorry," Kai said.

Yugi suddenly felt hollow and cold, picturing Yami—

_He's gone._

Their Frost King was no more.

"Yugi! Where are you going!?" Willow yelled, which is about all he heard before hitting the blowing agonizing blizzard.

"_Yami!"_ Yugi hollered, trying to make himself heard over the terrible wind. _"Yami! Yami! It's me, Yugi! Come back! Yami!"_

"What are you _doing!?"_ Willow yelled, running out and grabbing his arm and trying to keep the snow out of her eyes. "_You're going to get yourself killed out here!"_

"_He's gone!"_ Yugi tried to explain before going back to his previous endeavors. _"Yami!"_

And then Wilson had them both, struggling back to the cavern, where Kisara had her neck stretched out, trying to figure out what was going on—

"Stupid idiot juvenile morons," Wilson muttered the whole way back, not lessening his grip on them in the least. "What's gotten into you?"

Yugi, meanwhile, had fallen to his knees, sobbing and not entirely caring about how he must look.

"He's gone!" Yugi wailed. "Yami—he's gone. He took the Puzzle and—and…."

And his best friend was gone. Their worst fears had been confirmed.

The Frost King was no more.

* * *

Yami stumbled down the mountain and into a valley, landing in a crumpled heap in the snow. He didn't get up—he was uncomfortable in his own body, a sobbing heap as despair threatened to overwhelm him….

They had known. They had always suspected—those whispered conversations that he had never paid much attention to….The Crown Prince, reduced to a…a….

A monster. A freak of nature that had no business existing. Stupid—he had been so _stupid_….

Memories of how he was supposed to move came back to him, but when he tried to wipe away the frozen tears, he ended up stabbing himself with his…claws. Claws. He was…he—

He wailed anew—why, why, _why_ had he done it? Why had he gone after the Frozen Heart? Why had he insisted on coming here? Why had _they_ done it? Insisted on him—he had been happy in his ignorance, and now—

Now he was made painfully aware of the creature he was.

He sagged back into the snow, not caring if it buried him or not. Let him just…he couldn't….

He had nothing. He _was_ nothing. He had gone on this, this stupid journey to try to get something that was never his—a gem, freedom, his old life back—in his foolishness as this monster, a family….And now it was gone, all gone….

Unbidden, Yugi and Willow came back to his mind—a perfect memory of them playing in the snow and making a snowman. They hadn't known at the time—to them, they were playing with a magical snow creature—

To them, they were playing with a friend.

_Do you have a family?_ Kai's question recurred. _A place where you belong?_

That had been his burning question in his recent years.

And now….

_His little cousin._

_Yugi._

He had a family. He had someplace to belong. He had had it all along. And in his true foolishness, he had never seen that.

And neither laying here feeling sorry for himself nor running away was going to protect what was truly most dear to him.

The Crown Prince had fallen to the ground in despair.

But it was the Frost King who stood back up.

Yes. He had gained something up here in the mountains. A better understanding…of everything. He could see…he had people who cared about him. People _he_ cared about.

And he wasn't about to lose them—not from outside forces, and not from himself.

And a Crown Prince was powerless in this situation, but a Frost King was not.

A strong feeling welled up in his chest—he raised his head, tipped it back and let out a howl.

And another….

And another….

And another and another and another, banishing that hopelessness and reminding himself that yes, he was the lost Crown Prince. But he was also the Frost King, and the Frost King was not bound by such mundane problems. He wasn't alone. He could solve this. It was all right to let someone else help with the puzzle.

It was all right to have others to lean on.

And then, as he was sucking in another breath, he heard a response echoing back to him.

_We hear you, o good woooolf!_

He grinned, a feeling that had threatened to become foreign welling up in his chest—he howled again: _here! Here! Here!_

And then the first wolf appeared out of the blizzard.

It was big, easily as big as he was, and such a pure white that it blended in too well with the snow around it. He didn't recognize it, but it seemed more curious than threatening, ears pricked forward and nose twitching.

"I am Ice-Fang of the Snow-Back pack," it greeted. "We heard you, but you are no wolf. Explain."

Yami eased into a bow, tucking one foreleg back as he lowered his head, always keeping eye contact. "I am Yami-friend-almost-kin of the Silver-Back pack. Silver-Fang and Moon-Back would howl for me."

Ice-Fang tipped his head before turning and howling—asking for confirmation.

Yami's heart leaped in his chest when he realized he recognized the answering howls.

And he forgot all wolf-decorum when two very familiar wolf faces came galloping towards him, sending up sprays of fluffy snow in their wake.

"Silver-Fang! Moon-Back!" Yami greeted happily.

_"Yami!"_ the identified wolves cheered, barreling into him and rolling him and yipping and nipping happily. Yami's mood was instantly boosted.

"What happened to your antlers?" Silver-Fang asked. "You look funny without them."

"What are you doing here?" he had to ask, once they let him up to breathe.

"Things have been happening in our old hunting grounds," Moon-Back said soberly. "It has not been safe for wolves there."

What? "By Frostmore—where the humans live?"

"The humans have left," Silver-Fang said. "The ones living in the stone mounds—and then screaming owl-monsters came, as did other humans, and chased after the ones that lived there. As far as we know, they're all far down the mountain slopes by now."

"I thought they couldn't leave."

"They couldn't before—but the snow has been melting," Moon-Back said. "The area surrounding the human-dens has practically flooded—winter has ended, although why it has chosen to do so is beyond us."

Because Yami had been there—they had all been right: the Frost King caused the endless cold.

The thought sobered him up quickly, an action that did not go unnoticed by Moon-Back.

"What happened, Yami-friend?" she asked, searching his face.

Yami didn't answer—he wasn't sure how he could condense everything that had happened since they last met into a small enough frame; he wasn't sure how much time he had before something happened to the people important to him, and he needed to fix things quickly. It was to the point that the silence was stretching—

Which surprised him when Moon-Back's face suddenly split into a wolf smile.

"You found what you were hunting for," she declared.

He had been hunting for family, for a place to belong.

Yes, yes he had.

"I did," he said, voice feeling thick in his throat.

It seemed to be enough of an answer for Moon-Back, though—she nuzzled his face. "I'm glad."

"Me too," Yami said, still feeling that his throat was too tight.

Moon-Back suddenly backed up, danced in a circle to address—more wolves than he had ever seen before in one spot. Packs upon packs upon packs—a thing. The wolves had called a thing. Or maybe he had—he wasn't sure.

"We of the Silver-Back pack declare this Yami-friend-almost-kin, and that only because he is not wolf in body," Moon-Back called to those assembled. "But he is wolf in heart, and wolf in spirit, and I and my pack place our honor at the stake—he has called this thing, and I say we must listen."

The big white wolf, Ice-Fang, narrowed his eyes before looking at Moon-Back, then Silver-Fang, then Yami, then all assembled.

And then he looked back at Yami, looking like he was trying to peer into his very soul….

Before tucking a foreleg back and bowing deeply, never breaking eye contact.

"Very well," Ice-Fang said, returning to a standing position. "Yami, friend of wolves, Frost King, almost kin—why have you called this thing? What do you wish of we assembled?"

Yami lifted his head, took in everyone around—so many wolves, practically a sea of them, probably more beyond the snow fog, ears pricked, waiting—

"I have called this thing," Yami declared, lifting his voice so it would carry. "Because I have found what I was hunting for, as Moon-Back guessed. I found my family. I found my pack.

"And they are in trouble."


	141. Need a Lift?

**story—a sudden swing from Spring weather to freezing wind shear helps there.**

**To be fair to Rae, my life goal when I was little was to be a ****_Velociraptor._**** And wolves do use the same vocalizations dogs do, thanks to being related.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, I did—about time, too….I believe so….And good question—we will find out in three, two….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Balto © 1995 Universal Pictures &amp; Amblin Entertainment (Rae uses a line from the movie here)**

Yugi sat staring into the fire, not moving at all; he had stayed in that position for two days now, barely eating or drinking. Not even Willow could get him out of his funk.

Granted, Willow was in a funk right next to him, eyes a similar shade of red.

This was, quite simply, beyond Wilson's abilities.

_Hannah_ had always been the one who could handle this sort of thing, Wilson reflected. Granted, he got where they were coming from—Yami had just…_fled_. It—well, it made _some_ sense; if Wilson had suddenly remembered a whole different life, he'd have wanted some space too.

But something deep inside told him that saying so, that laying everything out in his usual matter-of-fact way, would not be welcome.

Kai, also laying by the fire and staring into it, inhaled deeply before sighing; even the dragons were subdued at his sudden absence.

And the storm had not yet abated.

Wilson started to say something, thought better of it, and retreated, crossing over to where Rae was seated, halfway to the entrance and staring out at the storm.

"May I sit?" he asked upon arrival.

"You may," she replied simply.

He did so, not liking the silence between them, permeating the whole cavern. Yami—well, the Frost King—had been a continual bubbly fount of happiness; without him, the cavern was…colder, ironically enough.

Wilson buried his face in his hands; he really should have anticipated this, that Yami would flee upon regaining his memories. He'd want to be alone, to parse what had happened…probably be away from the people who had…not quite lied, but omitted the truth….

It occurred to Wilson that he had been banking on the ridiculous hope the children had been entertaining: that the Millennium Puzzle would transform the Frost King back into the Crown Prince. It had not. And now….

A horrible thought occurred to him—that the Millennium Puzzle had somehow killed the Frost King, and the storm raging outside was the result of all that released artic energy.

That was not an improved line of thought, so he ceased it immediately. He needed to think constructively, to come up with a _plan_….

"Any ideas?" Rae asked, interrupting his reverie.

"I'm wondering if the dragons would give us a lift to Frostmore if we asked nicely," Wilson muttered, still with his face buried in his hands.

"Maybe," Rae said, just barely glancing at him. "Although that wasn't any fun in clear weather—doing so in _this_ weather is too distasteful to even think about."

"This is true."

"He left us."

"He did." Wilson finally brought his face out of his hands. "But consider this: you've been living in a dream world and wake up to find yourself as a monster. How would you react?"

"When I was little I wanted to be a dinosaur," Rae replied, not missing a beat.

"All right then, _most_ people would be more than a little horrified at that."

"At my life goals, or were you still talking about Yami?"

Yugi sniffed.

"Ix-nay on the ami-yay," Wilson hissed through gritted teeth.

"Why should I? Mincing around the fact doesn't change it."

"Empathy, Miss Rae, empathy."

Rae lowered her head and shook it.

And then jerked her head back up—Wilson did too.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"I did," she said quietly. "As if things weren't bad enough—now we've got _wolves_."

Wolves. Howling, sounding like they were getting closer….And them without their translating Frost King.

"Please," Wilson managed to croak out. "Tell me you have enough ammo."

Rae's expression tightened—no, she did not.

"Yugi, Willow," she called back. "I don't suppose you remember how to speak wolf, do you?"

Wilson risked a glance back—everyone was looking up, startled—

One of the dragonets ran forward, sitting up at attention before them—

And then the first of the wolves rounded the corner and dashed into the cave.

Inanely, the first thought to enter Wilson's head was that these wolves actually _looked_ like wolves, instead of the horrible twisted what-have-yous that had roamed in Dartz' castle. And then it registered that yes, wolves with sharp teeth and strong jaws and coarse fur were _running right at you—_

_"Rae,"_ he managed, in rising cadence—Rae swung up her shotgun—

"No! Don't shoot!" the dragonet before them yelled—Kechara. Rae started—

And then the wolves were upon them—

And not instantly ripping them to shreds.

Wilson had a moment to register their good fortune—the wolves were milling around, sniffing them and smiling and generally behaving like a bunch of tame dogs. Chester came to mind, may that old dog rest in peace.

He glanced back sharply at the sound of spluttering—Yugi and Willow in particular were being sniffed and licked by the wolves. As were the rest of them—one apparently felt that sitting in Bakura's lap was the thing to do, much to the thief's distaste. Another pair was sniffing Joey and Tristan—probably felt some sort of kinship, Wilson thought inanely.

He finally had to look at Rae, exchange dumbfounded glances with her—what was going on?

"Not that I'm complaining," Rae said finally. "But aren't wolves supposed to _eat_ people?"

A wolf next to them yipped—one sniffing Yugi made another noise, and then suddenly the cavern was full of echoing wolf noises, barks and yips and woofs and _aagh, he was getting a headache from this—_

Kisara stuck her head into their little cavern.

_"What's going on?"_ she demanded—sheer size and volume stopped everything in its tracks.

And then a wolf with a silver coat came forward, making those same barking-woof noises that reminded Wilson that wolves and dogs were still related, despite temperaments and wildness.

"What? what'd it say?" Yugi asked—and then the wolf next to him _woof_ed something—

"That one says you smell like Yami-friend," Kai supplied—which once again sent the wolves into a noise-fest—

"_Enough!"_ Kisara snarled. "I can't make sense of what you're saying if you all talk at once, and I have to translate—they don't speak wolf." This with a claw jabbed in the humans' direction.

"While you're at it, tell them we taste nasty," Joey said, eyeing the wolves next to him.

"Maybe if you bathed more," Tristan muttered to him.

"I bathe enough."

"You stink."

"So do you!"

"And…there they go," Wilson sighed, as the two teens argued, wolves watching the occasion like spectators at a sporting event. "Moving on…what _are_ they saying?"

"Things they shouldn't," Rae said, smirking as she watched the boys continue.

"Not _them_—the ones with the fur still milling about."

A wolf next to him barked.

"They say they understand human-speak," Kechara said, tone sounding like she wanted to add _how rude_.

"Terribly sorry, my mistake, I don't frequently have the opportunity to chat with wolves," Wilson said, looking at the wolf in question. It tipped its head and whined.

"Easy mistake," Kechara said.

"So what is being said?" Rae asked. "We're missing out on the conversation here."

Kisara listened, head tipping about as wolves about the cavern yipped and barked and contributed to the general noise—

And then her head shot up, and she ducked back into her cavern.

Rae's head jerked back before turning to look at Wilson. "Well, _that_ was anticlimactic."

"I admit I'm disappointed," Wilson agreed. "I was hoping for a bit more after that buildup."

Kaiser stuck his head through.

"_Why,"_ he rumbled. "Do we have a bunch of wolves on our doorstep?"

A wolf yipped at Rae.

"You smell funny," Kechara supplied.

"_I_ don't," Rae protested, thumbing over her shoulder at Wilson. "_He_ does."

"I do not," Wilson protested.

"You do too."

"I refuse to devolve into what _they're_ doing," Wilson said, pointing at Joey and Tristan—still fighting and wrestling with each other.

"And what's wrong with it?"

"I give up," Wilson sighed.

Fortunately for Wilson, Kisara chose that moment to return, opening her mouth and allowing something to slough to the ground and land with a _chunk_—

Wilson blinked, leaned so he could get a better view—

A sled harness. For a full team of dogs.

Or…no, it was crazy….

But there _were_ twelve wolves here, exactly, now that he counted.

"They will allow you to harness them," Kisara said. "And they will take you back to your home."

"What brought this on?" Bakura asked; Wilson was too busy pursuing his racing thoughts—

The silver wolf that had addressed Kisara earlier made her opinion known again.

"Because Yami-friend-almost-kin asked them to," Kisara translated.

Wilson started, couldn't help but look at Yugi—

Words couldn't accurately describe Yugi and Willow's expressions—disbelief mixed with overwhelming happiness, maybe.

"Yami's all right?" Yugi fairly squawked, once he found his voice.

The silver wolf yipped happily.

Wilson couldn't help but exchange a glance with Rae again.

"_I'm_ not harnessing them," she said, pointing at him.

Wilson's mouth twisted into a half-smile, mostly because he wanted to be a bit offended and was certainly not excited about being that close to wild animals _at all_, but was too busy with the sudden elation he was feeling to do otherwise.

"Well then," he said, crossing over and picking the harness up. "You all had better be ready to leave by the time I'm done then."


	142. Abandoned

**Chapter 142, everybody! In which we once again reference the Donnor Party's last meal before they progressed to the squicky stuff and we also quote my Mom: "I hate being right"—for her, it's because frequently when she's right about something, someone gets hurt.**

**In other news, I've decided that from now on I want nothing new with more than one moving part. Have to send the Cintiq back because part of the screen won't register (fortunately, Wacom is going to repair it), and had to help my parents set up the new TV. I don't think any of us liked each other after that TV. *~* But it looks good, so….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Good question…maybe…and ack! And me too….Although Rae probably has a solution to that: "Eat the mouthy ones first!"**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Good question….Don't worry about it—I blame myself for dropping off the face of the earth with this story. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you view it, the Frost King seems to have decided to grace me with his presence again: it's cold here. ): That's not too hard, actually—I just played it every night while we were on vacation and my interest sort of burned out on it. I'm not getting Civ VI until it comes off the price****—Steam had a sale recently, and among the 75% and 50% discounts, Civ VI had a 10% discount. On a sixty dollar game. I am long past paying sixty bucks for a game.**** But we still have _Don't Starve_, and ten new games to work my way through in my spare time (which seems to be rapidly shrinking…). It is—window washing is always the best chore to do when asking for something you really want, for that precise reason. Just watch out for killer spiders (both in the game and in real life). D:**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

Wolves were not as fast in the snow as Frost Kings were.

That didn't change the fact that they were speeding down the mountain and along a deep pass with breathtaking speed—or maybe it was the fact that they were speeding towards Frostmore that gave that impression.

Or, Yugi reflected, leaning into the wind, maybe it was because _Yami was all right._

Except…why didn't Yami come and see them himself? Why didn't Yami come back?

He had parsed the question to the wolves as they were being harnessed, turned his attention to Kechara, who was listening—

And was called over by Kisara before she could answer.

Kai, surprisingly, supplied the answer: "He's busy."

But with what?

They had bid the dragons goodbye that morning, and the wolves were showing no sign of slowing down, despite Yugi and Willow going over the sledding rules (_Woah means stop_ being the most emphasized). The wolves knew where they were going, and the rest of them were more focused on hanging on than providing direction; wolves, apparently, were not as concerned with comfortable sled rides as Yami was.

And that had been something Wilson had been careful to emphasize to them—to Yugi and Willow particularly: wolves were wild animals. Wolves were not Yami. Wilson did not care that they had been sent by Yami. Wolves were wild animals, and if it weren't for Yami, the wolves would be eating them by now.

One of the wolves had, at that statement, made that vomit-face that Chester and Yami had been fond of. The message was clear: _ick_.

But Yugi could get behind what Wilson had been saying: wolves were not overgrown dogs.

And they still showed no sign of stopping, or even slowing down.

"Are we going to stop soon?" Yugi heard Rae ask. "It's getting awful dark."

"Do _you_ want to try to stop them?" Wilson asked.

But they _were_ slowing…briefly, at a clearing with two paths forking away. The lead wolves lifted their noses, sniffing—

And then dashed along the path that had fresh snow and ice on it.

That was another thing that Yugi was noticing as they were going along—everywhere he looked, the snow was melting. Falling off the trees in huge wet clumps, puddling in nasty slushy piles, flooding the general area….

Except along the path the wolves followed. And as day sank into night, a flurry started, sending white flakes zipping by them at high speed.

"I want to light my lighter," Willow said into Yugi's ear. "But I'm afraid I'll burn someone."

"We don't want that," Yugi answered—which made the coming night nerve-wracking. They were basically going into darkness and danger on the good-will of wolves. He inhaled, intending to yell for them to stop—

And then stopped, exhaling instead.

Yami had sent them.

And Yugi trusted Yami.

* * *

Dawn was just beginning to stain the sky when the wolves finally slowed.

Yugi had drifted into an uneasy half-sleep sometime during the night, too cold and worried and scared to fall fully asleep—probably a good thing, as he would have fallen off the sled if he had. But the change in speed had nudged him fully awake, peering at their surroundings in the early morning gloom….

He recognized their surroundings.

"Willow," he noised, nudging her, hearing her stir to wakefulness….

"I know this," she murmured.

And then they were through the trees and coming to a halt in the middle of Frostmore, in front of the communal hall.

Silence for a long moment, as those on the sled processed their location and the wolves panted and flopped down from their exertions.

"We're home," Yugi said finally.

Wilson jumped off the runners—exclaimed in disgust as his landing broke through a rime of fresh snow and ice, sending him into slurry up to his ankles. He shook his feet as Bakura laughed—returned the laugh when the same thing happened to Bakura.

Everyone was soon off the sled, Joey and Tristan already running for the hall and loudly announcing their return.

"Why is everything melting?" Willow asked, looking around.

"Because Yami isn't here," Yugi said, feeling disappointment as he said it. Why wasn't he here?

"I wonder where he is."

Horribly, Yugi wondered if perhaps Yami was never speaking to them again—if he was angry with them for not telling him the full truth. Yugi wondered how he'd ever even _begin_ to explain it to him—if he'd ever get the chance to again.

Movement caught his eye—Joey and Tristan were coming back out of the communal hall, looking confused.

"There's no one here!" Joey called.

Wilson straightened, obviously surprised, crossed over—Yugi hastened to follow, Willow right behind him.

"What do you mean, no one's here?" Wilson asked, once he was close enough.

"I mean, no one's here," Joey said, pointing back into the hall. "It's cold in there, and there's nothing left—no blankets, no pots, no nothing!"

Wilson brushed past them, heading into the hall—Yugi followed, a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

Joey was right—the hall was empty, had been empty for quite some time; the neglect was palpable in the air, and made Yugi feel worse than he had before.

"What, didn't you believe me?" Joey asked, eyeing the gentleman scientist standing in the middle of the hall and turning a slow circle.

"Where is everybody?" Yugi had to ask—Wilson _had_ to know. Right?...

"I'm not sure," Wilson said, rubbing at his jaw. "But…with all the snow melting….The thieves must have made it up here, but I'm not sure how far they made it in that slop."

Yugi nodded—

"Wait," he said, Wilson's statement sinking in. "What thieves?"

"Before I was so rudely distracted with saving you from the Royals," Wilson said tetchily. "I had asked the Thieves of Kul Elna to come and help the rest of Frostmore get _out_ of here. Let's be honest—no matter how we sliced it, we couldn't keep on here for much longer."

"It wasn't _that_ bad," Tristan said.

"We were boiling leather for soup, Mr. Taylor."

Yugi noticed Rae shudder violently; he had a feeling it wasn't from the chill.

"I shouldn't be surprised," Wilson muttered. "But I would have thought…wait."

Yugi blinked as Wilson ran for the basement, shoes snapping on the cobblestone—it had never been this quiet in here. Yugi shuddered and ran after him—because if he stayed, then the silence might make him think that something awful had happened to them all. And _mom—_

Wilson was at the door to the basement, reading a piece of paper tacked onto the wood.

"Ha," Wilson suddenly noised, resting his head against the door.

"What?" Yugi asked—that sudden hollow feeling wasn't his stomach dropping out, was it?

"And I quote: _if you don't want your nose injured, then wear a helmet when you see me."_

Okay, stomach was back. "Mom?"

"Indeed. The thieves arrived, and they and all of Frostmore are making their way to Kul Elna as we speak, barring unforeseen events."

Yugi would rather not think of unforeseen events.

"So now what?" Willow asked.

"Now…we follow them," Wilson said, taking the note off the door. "After I get the rest of my stuff out of here. And if the wolves are willing to take us that far."

"I'll ask them," Yugi volunteered.

"You'll do no such thing. Not unless Rae is right there with the gun handy."

"But Yami sent them."

Wilson was halfway through the door—paused to look back at him. "There are a lot of things I can say to that, but none so pithy as this: why send them instead of coming himself?"

Yugi didn't know.

"Wilson?" Yugi asked, following him into the basement and watching as he lit a lantern to see by. "Yami…_is_ coming back, right?"

Wilson was silent for a moment.

"Consider this," he said finally. "As far as he knows, he woke up a monster, and with the impression that we lied to him. At the very least, with the impression that we robbed him of his happiness. I suppose we should be grateful he's letting us leave the mountains. _If_ he's letting us leave."

Yugi felt sick at that thought. "Wilson…Yami wouldn't do that."

"The Frost King wouldn't, no," Wilson agreed.

No more, but then again, the horrible thought didn't really need to be articulated.

Wilson finally looked at him, expression about as mournful as Wilson ever did.

"There are some times I hate being right," Wilson said finally. "But there's nothing I hate more than being wrong. And…I suppose I was wrong…on the points that mattered."

Yugi stared, taking a moment to decipher what Wilson just said. "I…Willow said that we shouldn't, because he was happy that way."

Wilson looked away, head down.

"I suppose," he said finally. "That I couldn't understand being ignorant and happy with it."

And Yugi supposed that he couldn't fathom being willingly lonely.

And now….

Now he was left wondering.

About everything.


	143. Arrested Progress

**Chapter 143, everybody! In which Rae references the ****_Wings of Fire_**** and ****_Deltora_**** book series, the ****_Beetlejuice_**** franchise, and apparently the ****_Dungeons and Dragons_**** series, as that's what my ****_Practical Guide to Dragons_**** book belongs to; she also quotes the National Anthem, and prompts me to look up the correct spelling of 'dachshund.' Go figure.**

**For the record, I looked up sand sleds to see if bringing the sleigh could be feasible—it isn't. and dachshunds were indeed bred to go after badgers in their tunnels, for those who wondered about why they're short and long.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Darn that website! Yes, he ****_is_**** being worrisome…we're going to have to work on that. Wilson would, but Wilson also has rope and is motivated, so Yugi's coming whether he likes it or not. :P Me too….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! True….Eh, maybe. It's cold nights, but during the day it's been hovering around fifty degrees. Yes, generally I wait a year or more before getting a game that interests me, mostly so I don't have to pay such an exorbitant amount. Summer is bug season ****_everywhere_****, except for maybe the Arctic; we get mosquitoes here. Big ones. And annoying little gnats that fly up your nose. And spiders—I know that feeling. I've had spiders as big as silver dollars (palm of your hand, basically) in my chicken house before. The chickens don't eat them. I think they're scared of them, honestly….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Beetlejuice © 1988 Tim Burton**

**_A Practical Guide to Dragons_**** © 2006 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.**

**_The Wings of Fire _****series © 2012 Tui T. Sutherland**

**_Deltora Quest _****© 2000 Emily Rodda**

The wolves, fortunately, seemed to understand them when they said they were heading away and off the mountains. At the very least, they headed south once everyone was on the sled.

Again, they ran through the night, up and down the steep slopes, across fresh ice and snow—Yugi wondered if they ever got tired.

And then they reached the petrified forest and stopped.

Yugi leaned—felt the others leaning—trying to figure out what was stopping them, why they were just standing there examining the woods with ears pricked forward—

And then the first two howled, followed by the rest.

"I missed something," Willow said.

"Me too," Yugi agreed.

They kept howling—

And then turned and ran alongside the woods.

"Why are we going around?" Rae asked, after it became clear that was what they were going to do.

"Yami said it was a spook forest," Yugi heard Serenity explain.

"Woo," Bakura noised. "And Kul Elna's a ghost town."

"Don't be sarcastic," Teana said. "Or the trees will stand up and scold you again."

Yugi had to glance back at that, if for nothing else, to watch Bakura sag.

After having a laugh at his expense, Yugi went back to watching the dead trees zoom by. Yami had said it was a spook forest where owl ghosts went to wander; maybe the wolves didn't want to disturb that? Or maybe the trees were all dead because of Dartz, and they sensed that?

Again, he wished Yami was there.

He glanced up, back at the mountain slope rapidly growing behind them. He had thought—he had _hoped_ the wolves would be taking them to Yami, but with the mountains behind them….

He'd never see Yami again.

He felt his eyes burn, quickly rubbed at them—no, he was _not_ going to cry, not now. Later, maybe. When they were off the mountain and back with their friends and family….

And Yami was all alone.

Willow suddenly wrapped her arms around him from behind, and he leaned into her. He wasn't alone. He still had people who cared. He'd…he'd stop feeling this hurt eventually, come back, try to reconcile….

"I'm fine," Yugi said to Willow, voice feeling thick in his throat.

Willow nodded, chin resting on his shoulder. "You will be."

Yugi nodded. If nothing else, he had to believe that.

* * *

He wasn't aware of falling asleep, but he was aware of waking up when he felt the sled slow to a halt again.

They were on the ridge—the one where they overlooked the Great Swamp that first time.

At least, he _thought_ it was the same one.

"I don't remember there being as many pine trees last time," Yugi said, looking out onto the vast flat expanse of purplish ground interrupted by the myriad pyramid shapes of pine trees.

"I don't either," Willow said. "Wilson! How long does it take for a pine tree to grow?"

"They don't grow that quickly," Wilson said.

"Maybe it's Lief's cousins," Joey said.

"Yeah, they're having a union meeting," Tristan said.

"Or they're all getting away from Yami—OW!"

Yugi glanced back to see that Tristan had bopped Joey on the head, glancing pointedly at Yugi and Willow when Joey turned to glare at him.

Yugi took a moment to look at Willow: apparently, they weren't the only ones who communicated silently.

_Shame,_ Willow 'said.'

The two lead wolves sniffed at the swamp air, ears pricked once again, before making a sharp noise and turning to run alongside the swamp, heading for the coast.

"Why are we going to Newport?" Willow asked.

"Because the swamps were dangerous enough to cross the _first_ time," Wilson said, leaning back to watch the swampy scenery speed by. "The villagers of Frostmore wouldn't risk crossing it a second time—not when they know there's a safe point near the coast where they won't have as much to cross."

Yugi exchanged glances with Willow and shrugged.

"Makes sense," Willow said. "And so long as we don't have to cross that stinky swamp again."

"Wait—then why did we have to cross it the _first_ time?" Joey asked.

"To get to the mountains, or to get away from them?" Wilson queried.

"To get away from them."

"We had help then."

Yugi sighed; another reminder.

"If you keep sulking, I'm going to throw you in the swamp and leave you there," Willow told him.

"So you're fine with Yami being gone?" Yugi asked.

"No, of course not. I plan on setting a lot of stuff on fire when I get the chance. But now's not the time."

"Why not?"

"Because the only thing handy is the sled, and we're using the sled."

Yugi considered this.

"All right, I'll give you that one," he said finally, prompting Willow to cheer.

* * *

The sun was setting when they reached the river. Across from them was Newport, the tattered flag still flying.

"'What so proudly we hailed in the twilight's last gleaming,'" Rae said, sounding like she was quoting something.

The river was raging and didn't look like it could be forded. "Now what?" Joey asked.

Yugi looked at the wolves, who sat down and started whining. One started gnawing at the traces.

"I…don't think the sled is going any farther," Yugi observed.

"They want us to _walk_ the rest of the way?" Joey asked.

"To be fair, the sled wasn't going to be of much use much farther anyway," Wilson pointed out. "Fine then, I suppose unharnessing is in order. As for the rest of you, if it's necessary, be sure to grab it now—I don't know if we'll have the chance to come back for any more."

There was a rapid flurry of activity, not unlike a swarm of locusts, as everyone packed anything remotely useful and shouldered it. Wilson kept a running commentary as he worked the harnesses: _food yes clothes no it's going to be warmer where we're going not that warm roll that don't bundle it you all are hopeless wrap the jars please_—it got to the point that the wolves that were still harnessed lay down in the traces, paws over their ears and whining. Yugi echoed their sentiments.

But finally, the wolves were on their way, leaving behind parting howls as they ran back the way they came. Yugi and Willow and Serenity waved good bye after them.

"Now what?" Yugi asked.

Wilson sighed, shouldering his own backpack.

"Now…we get wet," he said.

* * *

The river was too deep for the sled.

It unfortunately wasn't too deep for them.

Even more unfortunate, it was too deep for both Yugi and Willow. They had to ride on Joey and Wilson's backs, respectively, while Tristan and Rae took their packs, everyone tied together by ropes so no one got swept out to sea.

Wilson was especially disgruntled upon exiting the river.

"My feet are wet," Willow complained.

"Mine too," Wilson groused, sinking to a crouch so she could get off. "In addition to everything below my chin. But I'm sure wet feet are much more discomforting."

Willow immediately started looking around.

"What are you looking for?" Yugi asked, now on solid ground as Joey wrung out his shirt.

"Those green rocks," Willow said. "I think Wilson got a hold of some."

Yugi looked to Wilson, who looked to Rae, who shrugged and handed him his pack back.

"You _did_ sound a little grouchy," she pointed out.

"All right, fine," Wilson muttered, taking his pack and shouldering it. "But I resent the fact that my shoes are going to squelch for quite some time."

"And mine are dry as a bone."

"_How?"_

"It's called _sarcasm,_ Wilson," Rae said, setting off through the town. "Get with the times."

Wilson grumbled and followed her, as did the others. Yugi started to, paused, looked back at the mountain range.

This was it. They were gone.

And so was Yami.

Someone touched his arm—he looked down—Willow.

"Come on," she said, smiling sadly. "Let's go."

Yugi nodded, following….

He blinked at the shadow they stepped into, looked up to see the metal carcass of the ship they had seen…not so long ago. They had wanted to explore it.

But they were still running from the Sunlit Kingdom.

So now they never would.

Yugi tried not to sigh heavily as he trudged along after the rest. He didn't like the idea of travelling through the desert at night again, but he remembered how super stinking hot it was during the day. Saying that, it was still going to stink.

"I didn't do it last time," Willow said. "How was travelling across the desert?"

"Sucky," Yugi said flatly. "You get sand everywhere, and it doesn't stay in one place under your feet, and then it makes these huge mounds so you fall all the way down them if you're not careful—"

"And giant bug monsters hide in the dunes waiting for unsuspecting schmucks to wander by," Rae added.

"I missed those last time," Tristan said.

"You're complaining?" Joey asked.

"Giant bug monsters?" Yugi echoed.

"And sandworms. But don't worry, the dragons eat them."

"More dragons?" Willow wondered.

"Yes, blue electric ones and sandy poisonous ones."

Yugi looked to Willow. "I can't tell if she's pulling our legs or not."

"Not entirely," Teana said, falling into step next to them. "We have Sand Dragons in Kul Elna—you'll like them. They're really nice and easy to get along with—although they don't like it when thieves barge into their sleeping quarters in the middle of the night to loudly discuss thieving plans."

"Are you talking about me?" Bakura asked.

"No, Bakura, go back to walking."

"Sand Dragons," Yugi repeated.

"Are they like the white dragons up on the mountain?" Willow asked.

"And do they have scorpion tails?" Rae asked.

"No and no," Teana said. "They're kind of a tawny brown color and really long, and they go after the nastier worms in their tunnels."

"So they're like the dragon version of a dachshund then."

"A what?"

"A doxin. A wiener dog. You know, short dog, short legs, long body?"

"Sounds weird," Willow stated.

"I've always wanted one," Rae sighed. "And a Labrador and a Dalmatian—_oof!"_

Yugi blinked and stopped—Rae had run smack into Wilson, who had stopped dead in his tracks with the others ahead of them.

Why quickly became apparent when they spotted the soldiers all waiting outside Newport for them, all with arrows notched and aimed their way.

"Oh boy," Rae muttered.

"My sentiments exactly," Wilson sighed.

One soldier stepped forward to address them, looking nervous, Yugi noted.

"You are under arrest by order of the king," the soldier declared. "You are to come with us to the palace at once for your execution at dawn."

As they were rounded up, Yugi couldn't help but glance once more at the setting sun behind Newport.

Inanely, all he could think of was that this was a terrible way to end a day.


	144. Reunited

**Chapter 144, everybody! Which is posted before midnight because for once I have it written ahead and have gotten off my dead rear…wait, that would mean I'd be typing this standing….We also reference the well-known book _How to Win Friends and Influence People_, which my marketing teacher recommended to my marketing class several times. Should probably read it****….Also reference a conversation I had with my Mom after watching _The Knowing; _asked if I had to go back to my first college since the movie said the world would end in October, and got this reply: "Do you go back before October?" Upon saying yes: "Then yes, you do."**

**In other, positive news—expect this story to resume its Tuesday/Saturday schedule for about a week before switching to Tuesday/Friday due to the holidays: ladies and gentlemen, we are within ten chapters of the end of this story. Brace yourselves….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! No, there isn't—and yes, they have. Darn them. And yes, they do…I swear, these guys are magnets for trouble. Maybe….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the 220th review! Obviously. Well, we have a lake-effect snowstorm heading our way, so maybe—I'd much rather have snow than bitter cold (fun fact: there is actually such a thing as the weather being ****_too_**** cold for snow). This is very true—Nintendo has a bit of a racket going by having special Pokémon available for the new games only, so if you want the Pokémon, you need the game, but if Sun/Moon doesn't shape up and negate the all-story/no-play pattern the last several games have had, that'll be my last Pokémon game (Crescent Cavern is more fun anyway). Yes—now, when I think of Australia, I always get the "cloudy with a chance of spiders" conversation we had stuck in my head. Eh, even if they're harmless, the bites hurt—and besides, I don't want them touching me. *~***

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Pirates of the Caribbean © 2003 Gore Verbinski ("I'm not quite sure I deserved that.")**

They were pretty much bullied through the desert, dragged along when they lagged, and—in Yugi and Willow and Serenity's cases—slung over someone's shoulder and carted along that way. Joey and Tristan had been knocked out in their attempts to fight and dragged along; Wilson and Rae opted instead for glaring at the guards, while they and Teana all kept their chins up.

Of all of them, it was Bakura who was getting the rawest treatment. Apparently, the guards knew they had the thief prince in custody, and apparently, Bakura had not been winning friends and influencing people. It didn't take all that long for Bakura to look like he had gone a few rounds with the bearger and lost.

And, surprisingly, it didn't take them very long to get to the palace. Maybe because they had done a straight shot; maybe because these people were used to traversing in sand. Either way, the palace was suddenly much too close for Yugi's comfort.

And then Yugi was thrown to the ground, next to a bunch of…people….

"_MOM!"_

He didn't care if he screamed, or if his voice broke—_mom_. She was there. She was all right.

…Well, you know, except for that nasty little detail of these people saying they were going to kill them. That stunk. But she was hugging him like she'd never let go again, so everything would be all right.

She, meanwhile, had been unable to effectively articulate anything but his name for a few moments. "Where have you been?" she asked finally. "You are _so_ grounded."

"It wasn't _entirely_ my fault," Yugi pointed out. "I had help."

"Right. Which reminds me."

Yugi looked up to see her glaring at Wilson, who looked up in alarm from where he was liberating his wrists from the ropes still around them.

"I…you _did_ get my message, didn't you?" he asked warily.

"Did you get mine?"

"Yes, but unfortunately I find myself helmetless."

"Uh huh."

And then his mom socked Wilson square in the face.

"_Mom!"_ Yugi protested as Wilson spun and went down for the count. "You killed him."

"Wow," Rae noised, looking at Wilson laid flat on his face in front of her. "I like this girl already. Hi," she added, extending a hand to Yugi's mom. "You must be Hannah; such a pleasure to meet you."

"Charmed," Yugi's mom said, accepting the handshake.

"Wilson, are you all right?" Willow asked.

"I'm not entirely certain I deserved that," Wilson muttered.

"You took my _only _son off gallivanting on an extended trip without giving me any details," Yugi's mom pointed out.

"All right then," Wilson sighed, propping himself up to get back on his feet, one hand to his face. "Maybe I deserved it a _little_."

"See? We agree."

"It wasn't Wilson's fault," Yugi said, tugging on his mom's shirt before being distracted by an older man with a firm grip on Bakura's ear.

"_You_ are also grounded," the man said. "And we are translating it _my_ way, which means you are to be buried up to your neck!"

"I'm glad we were never grounded like that," Willow noised.

"Only because the ground was too hard to do it that way," Yugi's mom said.

Yugi grimaced, glanced away—guard glaring at them. Yugi quickly returned to tugging on his mom's shirt. "Those guys said something about killing us at dawn—am I still grounded?"

"We're not going to die. And yes, you're still grounded," his mom said, glaring at the guard. "And whose authority is this death sentence based on?"

"Mine," a familiar voice said, causing Yugi's innards to be doused with ice. Oh no….

He looked to see his creepy uncle standing there, one good eye narrowed at them all.

"Of course," Yugi's mom said, gently pushing Yugi and Willow behind her. Wilson stood with her, further shielding them from Akenhadin's glare. "Akenhadin. You know, it's bad enough you killed your brother and sister-in-law—are you _really_ getting off on killing _children?"_

"I would be careful, if I were you," Akenhadin said to her. "What you say is pure treason."

"Oh, but I heard the news: we're dead at dawn. So I can say whatever I want. As a matter of fact," and here she drew herself up, and Yugi could feel motherly fury adding to her height. "As Sister Queen, I can say _whatever_ I want, _whenever_ I want to. And _I_ say that you are a grubbing, greedy goon who's wanted the throne for as long as anyone can remember, and that you are _not_ above killing people to get it!"

"Here here!" Yugi's grandfather noised.

Willow nudged Yugi, pointed at something partially hidden in Akenhadin's robes, something green…ah, that's right….

"_And_," Yugi said around his mom's side. "You…uh…."

"Consorted," Willow suggested.

"Right. Consorted with some weirdo guy from Atlantis—"

"Who tortures cute little dragonets," Willow said.

"To get rid of us."

"And I would wager you're behind the disappearance of the Crown Prince as well," Wilson added, wiping blood from his face. "Seeing as how Dartz practically confessed to being your aide in this venture."

There was a long, painful silence that followed, eventually broken by the guards muttering. They were getting through to them.

"That," Akenhadin said finally. "Is about as much as I would expect from a throne-stealing Pale Skin." Brief glance at Wilson. "And her pet sorcerer."

"That offends me as a scientist," Wilson said flatly, arms crossed. Yugi noticed the bruises starting along his cheeks—wow, his mom could pack a wallop.

"And I think," Akenhadin said, turning to the rest of those assembled; Yugi recognized Mana and Mahado and several others that lived in the palace. "That we have heard enough. I say we proceed with the executions now." And here Yugi did not like the look Akenhadin gave his mother. "Starting with the Brother Prince."

_"NO!"_ came from more than once source—Yugi barely had time to register what that meant before guards were swarming, ripping his mom away from him, yanking Willow away, grabbing him and hauling him to a raised platform and punching Wilson and Joey and Tristan and Bakura and so many other people—Ushio was bellowing, having been pinned by several guards, but still managing to budge—

"Enough!" Mahado said, coming forward to the platform. "We cannot just execute someone of Royal blood! The Brother Prince—"

"Should be tried by all of the Millennium Items," Akenhadin finished. "But seeing as how we no longer have the Millennium Puzzle and you _lost_ the Millennium Ring—" Yugi couldn't help but glance at Bakura. "The role of judge falls to the most senior of the Royal family—"

"Which would be me!" Yugi's grandfather yelled, making it to nearly the foot of the platform before the guards caught him.

"That is still in good standing in the Kingdom."

"But you're not!" Mana suddenly yelled, before clasping her hands over her mouth in alarm.

The woman next to her stepped forward. "I agree," she said, touching Mana on the shoulder before turning to glare at Akenhadin. "You would have your own nephew killed? For what reason? For having a Pale Skin mother? Was it a crime for them to be ignorant of our laws when they had come so far?"

"No, but I wish it were a crime to be insulting," Yugi heard Wilson mutter.

"I'da hanged a _long_ time ago," Rae told him.

"Enough!" Akenhadin yelled. "_I_ am brother to the Crown King! _I_ have the highest authority here! Those of _direct_ blood have the highest authority! _Not_ some Pale Skin usurper!"

"You sent the Crown Prince off to die!" Mana yelled.

"Guards! Seize her! Take her to the other condemned!"

"Unhand her!" Mahado yelled, leaping forward to stop the guards.

"You cannot overrule an order from _me,_ Mahado!"

"That's absolutely right."

The cool, calm, deep voice cut straight through the uproar, generating an abrupt silence that hung in the air, charged like lightning was about to strike. An ever-growing ripple of people turned towards the closed gates and then parted—Yugi spotted dumbstruck expressions on Wilson and Rae, who quickly exchanged glances before looking back at whoever was making their way up to—

The last of the people parted.

Yami.

Crown Prince Yami, human and defiant, chin up and scowl deep.

"But _I_ can," Yami continued, not in the snow-on-snow voice that Yugi was used to, but in a regal, commanding tone. "And by the order of the Crown Prince, _I_ say that you let them go."


	145. Familial Confrontation

**Chapter 145, everybody! In which birds flock, things happen, and we see what happens when one uses conflicting magical items in tandem….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes! And yes…and maybe. Me too—haha, Yugi's mom is kind of based on my Mom, honestly—and her mom too; apparently slapping men for a loop runs in the family. That scene right there, that one you mentioned? That was the scene that made her memorable to me, because I saw it and thought 'Yugi's mom kind of reminds me of my Mom." Therefore, Yugi's mom is awesome. :)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the 222nd review! :D Mwahaha, yes! Good question…and yes, I think so—I don't have it all written out yet, but we're technically at the climax; once this is done, all that's left is the dénouement. I know, me too, but it had to end eventually…so we can work on sequels and stuff….I think it just freezes. Honestly, I've read nuzlocke comics that do the stories from Pokémon games better—games should be for playing (Pokémon Black/White, I'm looking at you). yes, little spider feet…and so many of them….That is true—my Dad can't even crush them in boots. But they're smart too—I went to college in Florida for a few years and ran into my fair share. Yelled at one outside and told it not to go to my dorm—I swear it froze, and when I finished, turned around and left. XD**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Frozen © 2013 Disney ("****_Stronger than one, stronger than ten, stronger than a hundred men!")_**

Yugi's ears were ringing.

_Yami._

Not the Frost King, the Crown Prince…Yugi's…cousin, technically. It was less weird to think about when Yami didn't have antlers and wings, but….

The expression on his face, the tone he used, the way he was standing before Akenhadin, lower than him but seeming much taller—this was not the Yami Yugi had grown to know. This was a stranger before him. And yet….

Yugi would have thought the Crown Prince would have been tan—Yami was as pale now as he had been when he had fur.

Akenhadin recovered first.

"And what is this?" he demanded. "A poor, _pale_ imitation of the Crown Prince, conjured by the Pale Skin sorcerer?"

"I am _not_ a sorcerer!" Wilson hollered, voice sounding thin in the silence. Yugi found it comforting that Wilson could still get offended, even in the face of death.

Yami, meanwhile, had crossed his arms in similar indignation. He was wearing the Millennium Puzzle, and a long blue coat with white fur trim, similar to how his fur had been as the Frost King. And the blue scarf, Yugi noted, the one he had held up and asked Yugi about.

And it may have been Yugi's imagination, but he was pretty sure he had heard the faint jingle of bells when he crossed his arms.

"I was stuck in the mountains away from the sun for ten years," Yami said flatly. "Let's see _you_ keep your color. And stop insulting Wilson—he's a gentleman scientist, not a sorcerer."

"_Finally_ someone gets it," Wilson muttered. Yugi could see him sagging in mock relief and being eyed by both Yugi's mother and Rae, on either side of him.

"I need you to let me go so I can slap him upside the head," Rae said to her guard. "Unless _you_ want to do it."

"What was your name again?" Yugi's mom asked her quietly.

"And someone you could not stand before," Akenhadin said. "Which means that yes, you are not the Crown Prince."

"People can change their minds," Yami pointed out. "And if you haven't noticed this piece of metal around my neck, then I'm sure Mahado can clear it up for you."

"Only those of Royal blood can wear the Millennium Puzzle," Mahado said quietly—which wasn't really conductive to convincing a crowd, Yugi thought.

"_If_ it is the real Millennium Puzzle," Akenhadin countered. "It could very well be an illusion. And for the record," he added, jabbing a finger at Yugi's grandfather, still near the base of the platform and still being held in place by the guards. "_That_ is what a Tan Skin looks like after ten years away from the sun. Guards, seize this imposter."

"No seizing," Yami said, turning his head to glare at the first guard. Said guard stopped in his tracks, looking unsure.

_"I said seize him!"_

Yugi caught a flash of green from Akenhadin's pocket, one that was echoed by his fake eye. Yugi winced as he realized he was forced into a front-row seat of the skin around the eye darkening and sagging, like it was being burnt from the inside-out. Wilson had been right—that thing was affecting his brain somehow.

_Or_….

Yugi's relation with the Millennium Items had been fairly limited, but Bakura's Millennium Ring had been relatively benign. _But_—the Aurechalcos was most certainly _not_ benign. Whatever weirdo magic powered those green rocks was obviously conflicting with the weirdo magic in that gold eye, and it was burning Akenhadin up from the inside out. No wonder he was nuts, what with his brain getting toasted every time that happened.

And then Yugi realized that the guards were actually seizing Yami now, who obviously lacked his former ability to freeze people on contact and wasn't looking very pleased with the situation—

_Chirp._

Yugi blinked, looked up—on the railing of the balcony above them, Cardinal-friend was perching.

And he wasn't alone.

Now that Yugi looked, every kind of bird from the mountains was settling down noiselessly on every available perch. Snowy owls, cardinals, blue birds, snow birds, juncos—birds _everywhere_.

And then a guard up on the wall went down, under what looked like a flash of gray.

Yami, meanwhile, had been forced to his knees in front of the platform. Akenhadin retained a vice grip on Yugi's shoulder as he freed up a hand to yank a sword out of a block next to him. Oh boy.

"You," Akenhadin said, pointing the curving sword at Yami. "Die first."

Yami's expression was dour—inanely, Yugi wondered if he had picked it up from Wilson.

"Don't I get any last words?" Yami asked, looking from the point of the sword to Akenhadin.

"Yes!" Mahado said quickly, before guards grabbed him too. Guards under the complete thrall of Akenhadin and his chunk of Aurechalcos—Yugi could see those flecks of green and red in the eyes of the nearest ones.

And, now that they were closer, Yugi could see that Yami's eyes weren't the Royal purple that Mahado had said supposedly ran in the family, the color that Yugi had.

They were icy blue.

Which was about the time one of them disappeared in a slow wink, a small smile on Yami's face.

"Fine then," Akenhadin said, making a sign with his sword hand—Yugi barely smelled cooking flesh through his shock. "Say your piece."

Yami nodded—

And then tipped his head back and _howled_.

Everyone Yugi could see looked startled—

And then even more so when the howl was answered. Again. And again. And again….

Something heavy started pounding on the gate—

Yami went slack in the guards' grasp, using their sudden movement to get his feet under him—

Yugi squinted his eyes and ducked his head down to his scarf, but those not expecting the sudden flurry of cold were caught by surprise—Akenhadin was yelling, more guards were trying to pin Yami down, hiding him from view—

Except Yugi could hear, as the flurry escalated and snowflakes zinged by his nose—

_Stronger than one,_

_Stronger than ten,_

_Stronger than a hundred men!_

_HYRAH!_

And on that last strong note, the guards were flung back as something swirled in a circle, catching one slow guard in antlers as it turned, flinging the poor guy far over the crowd—whom, Yugi noted, parted so as to not be under him—

And then it was the Frost King standing there, roaring a challenge at Akenhadin.


	146. The Frost King Versus

**Chapter 146, everybody! In which stuff goes ****_down…._****And I realize that saying the end of the story is Chapter 150 is ****_really_**** pushing it…chapter 150 was my aim, but writing it out, the end of the story may be Chapter 148. We'll see.**

**In other news: yes, deer can be absolutely vicious when they attack—for being peaceful herbivores, those antlers and hooves do some real damage. And juvenile snowy owls do have more black spots than the adults do. And in ****_Don't Starve_****, yes, it can rain frogs. Get them near angry beefalo, though, and you've got more meat than you can eat. :D**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes indeed! Yes! We have an army! Of birds and wolves and—did we mention the angry trees? Mwahaha, yes….**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, go Yami! :D Yes, sequel keeps poking me—it seems the Frost King and friends aren't done with me yet….Honestly, I prefer the games where they let you root around and find thing out for yourself—like how ****_The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind_**** has most of the in-game information and lore in the books you read and the conversations you have, instead of "cutscene cutscene cutscene what, you wanted to ****_play_**** this? Oh no no, we can't trust you to ****_play_**** it and potentially ignore our wonderfully crafted story. What do you mean, gameplay?" I'm honestly boggled by them myself—and I don't think "roach whisperer" is going to look well on a resume, now that I think on it….**

**Ashethehedgehog, thanks for the review! You literally have me grinning when I read it. :D I'm glad the characterization works, and that the pacing is good—you have no idea how much I sweated over those two points. And ****_man,_**** words cannot describe how much I love this review. Let me just say that I hope to continue to please! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

"_I told you!"_ Akenhadin shrieked, jabbing the sword in Yami's direction. "_I told you—"_

But Yami's roar had apparently been some sort of signal—the air was suddenly alive with the flurry of bird wings, diving down and digging tiny beaks and claws into Akenhadin and the guards—

A big snowy owl seized Akenhadin's arm in its sizeable claws, forcing him to drop the sword. A smaller one, still with the numerous black spots that said it was a baby, swooped down and snatched the sword by the handle before it could touch the ground.

"Stop whining!" the owl called back, winging away with the sword as another snowy helped it lift the sword away. Yugi was still processing the fact that an owl actually _talked_ before they flew the sword up and dropped it. Yugi quickly looked away before he could see the final destination.

Which meant he looked at the gate just as the wood splintered—

And Lief and cousins barreled in, swinging limbs and stomping in and picking up guards and throwing them, growling angrily the whole time—

And then Yugi was being yanked away—

"No wonder Wilson had to help you escape last time," Willow said, yanking him along the platform and away from Akenhadin, who was trying to fend off the birds that weren't touching them at all. "You're just standing there gaping like a fish and not taking the escape opportunity when it comes!"

"I was busy staring," Yugi protested, holding Willow's hand as Wilson helped her down off the platform. "And the magic steed came in with his woodland friends and demanded that the false king step down," Yugi added, addressing Wilson.

"I give up," Wilson sighed.

Yugi smirked—which quickly vanished as he was yanked back.

_"NO!"_ Akenhadin yelled. _"You're not getting away! Guards!"_

The guards in question were too busy trying to escape from a great big white bear and wolves and deer—the latter of which, to Yugi's surprise, was pretty darn vicious for an herbivore—slipping on ice everywhere—

_"Yugi!"_ Willow yelled, just as he saw the yellow and green glow—

And then with a roar and a bound and a gust of cold air, Yami was _right there,_ catching Akenhadin in the chest with his antlers and flinging him away, firmly planting himself between Akenhadin and Yugi as Yugi fell down with an _oof_ and quickly scrambled upright—

"You—you beast!" Akenhadin gasped, beating at the ice spreading across his chest. "You think you can kill _me!?"_

"I can't, nor would I want to," Yami said, before glancing up. "But they might."

Everyone in the immediate area looked to where he indicated—

Kisara and Kaiser were clinging to the top of the palace, necks arced down to properly glare at them, while the four little dragonets slid down off their heads onto the platform, necks outstretched, noses twitching—

One barked suddenly.

"He smells like the green guy," Kechara declared.

"Kill him," Kisara said simply.

Akenhadin scrambled, tried to run for the edge of the platform—

Which was when four very angry dragonets collided with his back, sending him off in a tangle of furious scales.

"_That's_ not going to end well," Willow said; Yugi glanced at her to see Wilson stopping her from scootching around to see the resulting carnage.

And then he felt cold on one side, turned to see the Frost King sitting there, eyeing him expectantly.

"Well?" Yami asked. "Did I do good?"

Yugi's response was to hug him as tight as he could, noticing that he wasn't being frozen solid this time around.

"Yeah," Yugi said. "You did good."

"Did _well,"_ Wilson corrected.

"And you came back—I'm so sorry we didn't tell you."

"Yeah, well, it was…um…involved," Yami said, hugging him back. "I'm sure Rae will come up with a really good explanation for it."

"Okay, touching reunion later," Wilson said, waving them off the platform. "We should _really_ be going."

"You're not supposed to interrupt the touching reunion," Willow protested.

"And _you_ are not supposed to be looking at someone's gruesome demise! Now _go!"_

Yugi slipped off the platform, followed by Yami making a small jump to get off, tagging after Wilson as he practically dragged Yugi and Willow away and to where Yugi's family was making their way over—

"Mom!" Yugi greeted. "You remember Yami."

Ushio was right behind her, sharing her dumbfounded expression. "Explain," he demanded.

"It's his fault," Willow said, pointing at Yami.

"You're grounded," Yugi's mom said, apparently feeling that that was the best option at this point and sounding like she wouldn't be surprised if the sky suddenly turned neon orange and started raining frogs.

"Grounded?" Yami echoed.

"It's where you're buried up to your neck until you die," Willow told him.

"That's not what it means," Wilson said.

"I'll ask Bakura later."

"No you won't, and we need a plan beyond avoiding getting killed here."

"I've got it," Yami said, taking a few steps away—

Which was about the time one of the dragonets spat out the Millennium Eye, which rolled to a halt in front of a disgusted-looking Pegasus.

"_Eww,"_ came from at least three different sources; Yami was making that vomit-face as well, before shaking himself, recovering….

And then bellowing out a roaring _"Stop!"—_wings half mantled as he did so.

All activity ground to a halt—except for one treeguard, who punched the guard it was holding.

Yami glared at it, prompting the treeguard to make a helpless gesture before pointing at the treeguard next to it, who gestured angrily at a burnt patch on its body before pointing at the guard dangling from the other's grasp. Yami looked at Yugi and tipped his antlers at the treeguard, prompting Yugi to shrug helplessly.

Yami shook his head before spreading his wings to ensure he had undivided attention.

"Okay, long story short, there was this magic gem, and that's why I look like this," Yami began, making sure his voice carried. "Obviously, there's a bit more than that to the story, but in the interest of moving on to more important topics—Akenhadin conspired to have me killed in the mountains and blame the Pale Skins for it.

"But Akenhadin is dead now, thanks to the dragons we saved from his partner," Yami said, nodding at the dragonets—one of which was picking its teeth. Yugi glanced away, not wanting to see. "And hopefully his ideals died with him. There's more to life than just the color of a person's skin or how they talk. Akenhadin played off of our ignorance and fear, and used that to kill my mother and uncle."

That declaration garnered a few gasps, Yugi noticed; he wasn't sure why—it had seemed obvious to him.

"But as I'm sure you've noticed, I don't exactly have a tan anymore. I've learned a few things up in the mountains—" glance at Yugi. "And I was taught a few things as well. We could all learn a few things, to be honest.

"So, are we going to act like civilized beings and get to know each other like my mother would have done, or should I let my friends get back to it?"

Long silence.

And then the sounds of spears clattering to the ground.

"I don't think anyone's going to disagree with you when you have walking trees backing you up," Willow pointed out.

Yami was smiling as he lowered his wings. "Yeah, but they're a lot grumpier than they look."

"The one tree punched somebody," Yugi pointed out.

"Yeah, well…."

"Um," Mana noised, directing attention to her. "Yeah. Now what?"

Yami considered that before smiling and dipping his head.

"Someone ought to go to the kitchen and tell the cooks to start making a feast for everybody. I'm sure everyone's hungry. And tell them to make lots of soup and biscuits-and-bacon, too."

Yugi couldn't help but smile at that.

There was going to be a lot of smoothing out in their future, but for now, everything was right in the world once more.


	147. Party Observations

**Chapter 147, everybody! In which Rae breaks dishes (_Oompah!_), Bakura goes down squawking, and I find that I may meet my idea of 150 chapters after all….The reference to tables being for ****_glasses_**** stems from something my Mom and that generation says—and in the interest of not swearing on the Internet, I won't finish it, but I'm sure you can figure out what rhymes with glasses and doesn't belong on tables. :)**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Me too. :D Me too. :p Yes! Here's hoping….**

**Ashethehedgehog, thanks for the review! Oh yes indeed, I love reviews, especially big long ones detailing what you liked (thanks for the review over on _Chaos Avatar Desertion_ too, by the way). :D Oh good, glad that worked. :D Yes! Soup and biscuits-and-bacon! That makes everything better! :D Ahah, glad Wilson translates well—I love writing his character. :D Me too! Let's see how it goes….**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Aladdin and the King of Thieves © 1996 Tad Stones; Disney**

Yami only remembered one feast as awkward as this one—the one his mother and uncle had arranged for the Pale Skins and thieves that one time.

Rae, strangely, was the one to break the figurative ice.

"Hey," she had declared, getting up on a table with a plate in hand. "I hear that there are general things to do at parties. Seeing as how this is my first, I want to do this right."

And then she pitched a plate down, breaking it on the floor.

"Hey!" Mahado had protested. "You can't do that!"

"I just did," Rae said, pointing. "What are you going to do to stop me?"

Mahado spluttered—

Which was about the time that Aspen, Lief's cousin, picked up a plate and tossed it to the ground.

_"That is fun,"_ Aspen rumbled to Lief, who gave Yami a glare that—even across the way—said very clearly: _you're a terrible influence._

But that prompted a few people to start chatting with each other, asking Rae to introduce herself—_a Bradbury-Orwell! Really?—_which prompted Mana to ask what a Bradbury-Orwell was, which prompted Rae and Wilson to start explaining—

And that was why, in a plaza away from the courtyard where everything had gone down, the food found the Pale Skins and Tan Skins intermingling like they had been that time long ago. Or at least, it _felt_ like a long time ago. A lifetime, maybe.

Yami had gone through a few rounds of telling his story, which he kept to the bare basics—it didn't help that most of his explanations for the strange things he could do, like ice powers or shifting or why he was ice-white now with dark blue hair, were things he couldn't rightly explain except to say _magic_; Wilson had heard him say that once or twice and scoffed every time, and Yami had the feeling that another scientific examination was in his future. But eventually, Yami had found a spot behind a pillar where he could watch the going-ons and see how things were going.

And things were going surprisingly well. The Tan Skins were still recovering from the man who had manipulated them for so long suddenly dying, but on the positive side, it meant that they weren't overly reacting to the Pale Skins and thus actually were observing them and seeing that they were real actual human being just like them. The Pale Skins, meanwhile, were acting just like anyone would at having a near-miss close-brush-with-death and surviving: excited, happy, and more than a bit worn-out; Serenity had fallen asleep at a table, and Joey and Tristan had relocated her to a semi-bed made of coats by the wall and were having their overindulging feast over beside her.

And picking out the faces he recognized—Wilson chatting animatedly with Hannah and Solomon, waving his hands about in-between holding a cloth of ice to his face; Yami couldn't help but feel sorry for him, seeing as how he seemed to keep getting hit. Rae was next to them, sitting on the table with her feet on a bench and studiously ignoring people suggesting to her that tables were for _glasses_—but that was how she rolled, doing her own thing and ignoring the rest of the world until it affected her, like they had. But she seemed better for it, if the way she kept glancing at Wilson and smiling was any indication—like how Teana looked at Bakura.

Speaking of…he didn't see her anywhere….

"Hey."

Yami glanced back with a start—Teana had snuck up behind him and was leaning on the pillar opposite him, a faint smile on her face like she wanted to be happy but wasn't sure if she should be.

"Hi," Yami returned, figuring it was the appropriate thing to say.

In response, Teana nodded to the room at large. "Are you hiding from your own party?"

"Sort of—I got tired of saying _I don't know_ to just about every question posed."

"That _would_ get exhausting."

Awkward silence.

"Um," Teana noised suddenly. "Just so you know…I've always viewed Bakura as like an annoying brother, and I _did_ wait…it's just that things…well…developed."

Yami grimaced. "This isn't going to be one of those conversations that give Wilson conniptions, is it?"

Teana laughed. "No, no, it's not _that_. It's just…well…."

Yami had the feeling he knew what was going on. "Teana…it's fine. You and Bakura work well together. And let's be honest, Bakura needs the help."

"I'm telling him you think he's hopeless."

"While you're at it, point out that he said, and I quote, that I couldn't pay him enough to go up a freezing cold mountain, and he ended up going for free."

"He _would_ hate that," Teana said, considering. "I think I'll tell him."

"I'd go with you, but I'd want to be able to enjoy this, and I get the feeling I'd be accosted the moment I get into sight again."

"There he is, right over there," Teana said, pointing. "You'll be able to see from here."

And with that, she kissed him on the cheek.

"It's good to have you back," she said, smiling.

And then she was off, leaving Yami in a bit of a daze.

"In retrospect, I shouldn't have said all that," Yami muttered, watching her make her way to Bakura, reach him, put a hand on his shoulder and talk into his ear. Although, the way Bakura reacted around her…especially right now, the way he squawked and went to the floor. Okay, so that was about as entertaining as he had hoped. And then Gazim coming over and asking what was going on, and Teana saying something and showing him her hand…ah….And what do you know, father went down with a squawk just like son.

Gazim recovered faster though, popping up and seizing Teana by the shoulders. Even from where Yami was, he could hear Gazim loudly exclaiming that she would be the _best_ daughter-in-law ever and there was hope for his son yet—

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Bakura loudly demanded, sitting up.

But Gazim was already off, arms waving above his head and loudly informing the world at large that his son was to be married—

"Wait!" Bakura hollered after him, hopping to his feet to run after him. "Does this mean I'm not grounded anymore? _Hey!"_

Yami couldn't help but laugh, which was quickly followed by a sigh. It was nice to see everyone getting along, at least temporarily. And with any luck, his father might finally recover, now that he didn't have Akenhadin around—and probably poisoning him slowly, Yami realized.

…And he also realized that he had yet to work up the nerve to go see him.

And to be honest, he didn't _want_ to see him—he didn't want his mental image of his father sullied by what his uncle had done. But he did stop a couple of servants and ask them to check in on him.

Once they were gone, he left down a side hall, reaching the balcony the party room looked out on through a less-travelled means. He had inadvertently picked this particular room for a reason, he realized upon hitting the night air.

It faced north.

He was indeed changed, he reflected, leaning on the balustrade and resting his head on his arms. He had regained his memories and his sensibilities and his throne—the Crown Prince was once more.

But he was also the Frost King, and it was the Frost King who had regained the throne and saved the day. And it wasn't like he could simply ignore the past ten years, or the icy magic that still swirled within him.

His home was in the sands, but he would always yearn for the cold, he realized.

He heaved a sigh as he stared towards the mountains in the distance.

He missed it already.


	148. Ring Things

**Chapter 148, everybody! In which I finally get back into the swing of posting things, now that we only have three chapters left….Also, Yugi's mom imitates my Mom as far as getting a whole building-full of people's attention, and Wilson approaches food like I do. And hummus does taste like _blech_, by the way—or at least, the hummus _I_ tasted. :P Oh yeah, and we address the fact that the Millennium Ring is now back in the place it was liberated from****….**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, just a little bit—it was supposed to be resolved by the end of this chapter, but this one ran long and the next one ran short, so I adjusted things a bit. Eh…well, I've never been in love in the romantic sense, so I don't know if someone holding a candle for someone for ten years is plausible—and to be fair, in my initial scripting, Teana and Yami ****_did_**** end up back together; but in actually writing it out, Teana went and confounded me and drifted to Bakura, so….Yes, that does seem to be a problem.**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Maybe. I know, right? "All right now I get to—watch another cutscene. Okay, that's over. Walk down this hall—another cutscene. Okay, that's over, walk down—another cutscene." Cue throwing game across the room. I don't know, I've played games that have done a good job of balancing story and gameplay—****_Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind,_**** for example, because everything you'll ever want to know about world lore you can get from books or talking. Or, you know, you can just blunder around—but it's up to the player and not a bunch of scripted cutscenes. I thought so…maybe the MIB would be interested, but….**

**Ashethehedgehog, thanks for the review (and the fan art)! Ah, thank you, I'm glad you liked it—we'll work on the Yami-hugging thing. And thank you! I'd like to thank spending half of my life writing ****_Yu-Gi-Oh!_**** fanfics that I've never published because they were me getting all my crummy writing out….Me too, but don't worry, he'll be back to his usual happy self in a little bit—and yeah; when I was working on the story, that part kept occurring to me, so I wanted to address it. I'm sure that'll happen—just give it a chapter or two.**

**CheerUpSleepyJean (****_oh what can it mean_****—sorry ^^;), thanks for the review! Thank you, I'm glad you like the story! Good to know I'm doing the characters right. And the sass. Sass is always tricky to write, I think. I hope you enjoy these last few chapters as well! :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Aladdin and the King of Thieves © 1996 Tad Stones**

Yugi didn't think he had ever been in a crowd of people that were actually _happy _before. Like _happy_ happy, not just 'oh good we're not all dead today' happy.

Granted, it was shaping up to be a pleasant experience, what with the good food that he was actually enjoying this time around, and the smooth fruity drink he was drinking, and everyone talking at once and cheering and Bakura's dad telling everyone he could get ahold of what an awesome daughter-in-law Teana would be (he didn't use those words, per se, but the awesome part was implied) while simultaneously implying that Bakura would be hopeless without her. And Bakura behind him, loudly proclaiming that he was _not_ hopeless, stop telling people he was hopeless, and then Mahado was confronting him about the Ring—oh yeah, Bakura had technically stolen that. Which impressed his father, who claimed that the Millennium Items couldn't _be_ stolen, while Bakura was saying that the Millennium Ring most definitely wanted to stay with _him_—

Okay, Yugi was going to have to actually watch this confrontation; he adjusted his seat and sipped at the fruit drink as the three-way argument commenced, steadily getting louder and with a lot of angry gesturing, until finally Teana came up, tried to halt it, walked away to talk to Yugi's mom—

And then Yugi's mom was right there, letting loose an ear-piercing whistle like Wilson or Rae would do.

"Just these three losers," she declared upon the general activity dying down. "The rest of you: as you were."

Yugi hopped up and creeped over so he could hear the resulting conversation better.

"Okay," his mom declared. "Mahado, tell me again about the Millennium Items, since I'm a little rusty on the topic."

"They are for _Royals only,"_ Mahado stressed.

"Okay, point made. Continue."

"They are _not_ for ruffians—"

"Are you calling my son a ruffian?" Bakura's dad asked, sounding affronted.

"Is he not?"

"He is, but _you_ are not allowed to say it."

"Moving on," Yugi's mom prompted.

"And he really should have boiled alive from the inside out by now," Mahado added.

"Uh huh. Well, since you're not getting to the point _I_ wanted to make—didn't you tell me once that the Items choose their bearers?"

"Yes," Yugi supplied, coming up next to her. "I remember that from those dry boring lectures he gave me."

"Still?" his mom asked Mahado, deadpan.

Mahado, meanwhile, looked a little miffed. "You remember _that_, but you do not remember when I quizzed you on the parts of the soul?"

"I might have clinically died of boredom by that point," Yugi admitted.

"Back to the original point," Yugi's mom sighed. "The Items pick their bearers—why don't you ask the Ring?"

Everyone stared at her.

"At the risk of sounding like Wilson," Gazim said slowly. "You _are_ proposing asking an inanimate object which owner it prefers."

"Yes, I'm aware that sounds silly," Yugi's mom said. "You know what else sounds silly? Three grown men arguing over said inanimate object."

"It wants to stay with me. Don't you?" Bakura asked, holding the Millennium Ring up to his ear. Yugi laughed when pure unadulterated irritation became evident in his expression.

"Let me guess," Yugi said. "It has to think about it."

"I don't know why I even bother," Bakura groused, throwing his hands up in the air and letting the Ring bounce against his chest. Yugi laughed again, this time at Mahado's expression at the treatment of the Ring.

"So! Give," Yugi's mom ordered, making a grabby motion at Bakura. "I'd like to get this over with, if you don't mind."

Bakura handed the Ring over, and Yugi's mom affected a very serious expression.

"Oh, Millennium Ring," she intoned, with a half-lidded yet very pointed look at Mahado—mocking his serious and formal air, Yugi guessed. "Let us know, so that we may get back to partying: who do you want as your bearer?"

The prongs all immediately pointed at Bakura, and Yugi's mom gained a baffled look.

"Either there was something in that drink," she said slowly, taking Yugi's away from him. "Or I may have to revise my opinion on whether or not the items are sentient—either way, I'm pretty sure I heard, loudly, _him him I want him he actually takes me places!"_

"And here I thought you had better taste," Mahado said to the Ring. Which, unfortunately, prompted another round of objections from the thieves.

"Hey," Willow said, causing Yugi to jump—she was right at his shoulder, having snuck up while he was invested in the argument. "Firstly, try these—I don't know what they are, but they're like a pastry with tasty savory stuff in them and they're _great_. Secondly—what'd I miss?"

"Three grown men and a Ring arguing," Yugi said, looking back at the argument that now included his mom, waving her hands around in her irritation—if he didn't know any better, he'd say the Ring looked motion-sick. "They'll figure it out eventually, I'm sure."

"Eventually," Willow agreed, holding out the pastry for Yugi to take. "In the meantime, what do you think? Some party, huh?"

"Do you mean that, or are you just _saying_ it?"

"I've always wanted to say it," Willow admitted, waiting for Yugi's moment of silence to end and for him to take a bite before speaking again. "Well?"

"Mmmph," Yugi noised, before moving the bite around enough to talk. "I have no idea what this is, but this is _good_."

"Yeah. Watch it be something yucky though, like hummus or something."

"What's hummus?"

"Over here," Willow said, dragging him over to the banquet table and pointing at a bowl of creamy stuff. "That's hummus, and it tastes _nasty_. And then the taste _lingers_. It's like vomit-face bad."

"Yuck," Yugi agreed, before looking the rest of the table over. Lots of stuff he recognized, lots of stuff he didn't…and there was biscuits-and-bacon and soup. Yugi was surprised Yami wasn't right there.

Speaking of….

"Have you seen Yami?" he asked Willow, looking around—lots of the backs of people's heads. Darn his shortness.

"I did earlier," Willow said. "And if he's smart, he's hiding from all the people asking why his hair is blue."

"Why _is_ his hair blue?"

"Weren't you paying attention? Magic."

"Don't let Wilson catch you saying that."

"I'm sure there's some scientific explanation, but saying it's magic is more fun."

"Hmm…." Yugi noised, adding _Wilson would still take offense to that_ in their silent language.

"Yes indeed I would," Wilson said, walking by them and not breaking stride at all.

Yugi spun to look at him, so fast that he nearly gave himself whiplash, looked back to Willow, who had a horrified look on her face.

"He's figured it out," Yugi said, pointing after Wilson.

"That's terrible," Willow said, looking horror-stricken. "We'll never have another moment's peace again."

"You'll live," Wilson assured her, sniffing at a spoonful of hummus before moving on to the next dish. "And someone take Yami something, while you're on that topic—I haven't noticed him eating anything yet."

"Where'd you see him last?" Yugi asked.

"Last I saw him, he was skulking behind those pillars over there—although he might have moved about since then."

Yugi looked around again, considering.

"Maybe I ought to find him," Yugi said. "Take him some biscuits-and-bacon."

Willow nodded. "I think he'd like that."


	149. Gone Sledding

**Chapter 149, everybody! In which cousins stir up trouble and we are now officially only one chapter away from the end! I'd like to do some early thanking of everyone who stuck with this story, and would like to let you know that next Saturday will be the last chapter. Again, thank you for your continued support, and I hope you've enjoyed the story and will enjoy these last two chapters.**

**Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Well then, I'll have to see if one of my cookbooks has a recipe for hummus and try it then. :) Aha, that's right, biscuits in England are what translate as cookies here, aren't they? I did some reading to try to find the origin of American biscuits (because they're really nice and fluffy and buttery and oh so good) and they seem to have originated in the southern United States around the time of the Civil War—apparently, they kept longer, and at one time used yeast like a dinner roll (compared to now when we basically use Bisquik and water). Also looked up gravy, and while we have similar definitions, Americans tend to use gravy to only refer to thickened sauces. Which is all very interesting to learn, honestly….I know! I can't either. :O I do—a ****_Shadow_**** story that's been demanding all my time and which I'm not entirely sure about posting, honestly; a ****_Don't Starve_**** story that's nearly 350 pages long at the time of this posting; and several short stories which I'll probably post before uploading any new longer stories. And I want to finish up a few more of my other active stories at the moment as well (I can't leave you all hanging D: ). Pff—in some of my fan stories, I've written Bakura as being Catholic, so I just imagined him in that sort of priestly garb. I'm not sure how those boys are going to straighten ****_that_**** out…but I think we can agree that Bakura is a bad influence wherever he goes. ;)**

**Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes, go Yugi….This is true. Or leave it to the anime—some do, but it takes some careful plotting, I think. Ooh, have fun on your trip! Hawaii's great. :D**

**Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi**

**Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment**

**Balto © 1995 Universal Pictures &amp; Amblin Entertainment (kind of pictured the moment between Boris and Balto at the beginning of the movie as part of the inspiration here)**

Yugi eventually found him on the balcony attached to the party room, down at the far end and not in immediate sight of the room's interior. Body language very clearly said _I want to be alone_—aagh, thank you, Wilson, for figuring out super-special silent language. _Now_ how were they supposed to have a private conversation?

Focus, important things first…deep breath and walk over, stopping at a respectable distance to clear his throat.

Yami glanced over at him.

"Hi," he noised.

"Hey," Yugi greeted, before holding up the sandwiches he had in a napkin. "They actually made biscuits-and-bacon. I didn't think they actually knew what that was."

"I think your mom helped there."

"She's good for that," Yugi said, putting the sandwiches on the balustrade and unfolding the napkin. "Although…I guess that makes her your aunt. That was weird to say out loud, by the way."

"It was a little weird to hear," Yami agreed. "But we'll get used to it, I'm sure."

"Yeah," Yugi agreed.

Silence as they considered the sandwiches. Yugi finally decided to go for it, send thanks skyward for the meal, and try one. Not bad.

"So now what?" Yugi asked, once his mouth was empty again.

"I…have no idea," Yami admitted. "I was kind of banking on everything falling magically into place once we fixed the major problem."

"I can hear Wilson scoffing from here," Yugi said. When Yami looked: "No, no—I mean, I can clearly picture his reaction to that."

"Oh. Me too."

More silence, and Yami wasn't touching his sandwich.

"The second one's yours, you know," Yugi pointed out.

"I know—I was just thinking. Lief says Erikson's doing well, although he's a little worried about what he calls _an obsession with chickens."_

Yugi blinked, thinking—Lief's kid, that they had named Erikson and planted at Rae's. "Rae's in for a big surprise when she gets home and finds a walking tree tending her chickens."

"Yeah. Although I'm not sure what they think about all the firewood she's got."

"It'll probably come up sooner or later."

"Probably," Yami agreed, finally tugging the napkin over to him a little. "It'd be nice if everything just wrapped up all nice and tidy."

"Now I hear Mom laughing," Yugi said. "You can't just expect everything to end on a nice _happily ever after_—life goes on after that. It's up to us to make sure it _stays_ happy."

"Was that a Wilson statement or a Rae statement?" Yami asked.

"I think it's just general Pale Skin reasoning," Yugi said, shrugging. "Or maybe it's just adult stuff, considering it's always adults that're telling me that."

Yami gave that some thought. "I'm not ready to be an adult," he admitted.

"Me neither," Yugi said, leaning on the balustrade and resting his head on his arms. "I kind of miss how things were before, but…I'm glad we went through all that, even if it did suck at spots."

"It did," Yami agreed, finally taking the sandwich and biting into it after a moment of silence. "But it was worth it. This is surprisingly good, by the way."

"I think you were right, and Mom helped with it."

"Mmm."

Silence, but not nearly as awkward as it had been. Yugi looked out at the mountains, vague and faint on the horizon. He'd miss them, he realized.

Yami finished up the sandwich, licking his fingers as Yugi moved on to stargazing.

"You wanna go sledding?" Yami asked suddenly, prompting Yugi to look down at him. Sledding. Coming from the Crown Prince, that would have been odd, especially considering Wilson's prior descriptions.

But coming from the Frost King, from his friend Yami….

"Sure, all right," Yugi said, smiling brightly as he nodded.

Now for the little matter of letting someone know where they were going.

* * *

"I need you to hide me."

"Now what?" Hannah asked, giving Wilson a look that he translated as _still mad at you._ Hopefully it wasn't of the _break your nose_ kind—he liked his nose, thank you very much, and he'd rather it stay the way it was.

"If I have to hear Gazim talking about his new daughter-in-law _one more time_…." Wilson groused, trying to move his hands in such a way that accurately articulated his grief with the matter.

"You'll get over it," Hannah said, patting him on the shoulder. "Just like you'll get over your face."

"I'm still not entirely certain I deserved such a frontal assault," Wilson said, miffed about it still.

"You'd have rather I hit you from behind?"

"I'd have rather you not hit me at all."

"Then next time, either leave Yugi home or leave a better message."

"And I'm sure you'd have loved _off gallivanting with the Frost King, will write when able."_

"Don't make me hit you again."

"Oh please don't."

"Mmm-hmm. Speaking of, I notice a dearth of spiky heads."

Wilson looked around, found that she was right. "Well…I'm sure they're just avoiding the main body—when was the last time either of them participated in such a large gathering?" He looked at her, noted her worried look that she was trying to smother. "Maybe we ought to track them down and keep an eye on them—settle your mind and all that."

"_You_ watching them is _not_ settling my mind anymore."

"Yes, well…come on, let's start looking—the sooner we find them, the sooner we can get back to…whatever it was we were doing."

"I think you were trying to mingle and failing."

"I think I was too. Come on then—you look that way, I'll look this way."

* * *

It wasn't even a full hour before they were back where they started, a decided lack of young princes anywhere.

"This was _not_ my fault," Wilson said upon meeting with her.

"I didn't say that," Hannah said.

"No, but I'm sure you were thinking it."

"I was," she said, looking around again. "Where _haven't_ we looked?"

Wilson gave that some thought before looking at the table. With a tablecloth. Hmmm….

He bent down and lifted the tablecloth, peering under the table.

Willow waved at him.

"Well, there _you_ are at least," Wilson observed. "What are you doing sitting _under_ the table instead of _at_ the table?"

"The adults are getting tipsy and weird," Willow responded. "And this way I can eat all these creamy roll-pocket things without that one guy giving me the stink-eye. Here, try one."

Wilson accepted the proffered pastry, examined it before biting it, handed it back before reaching up and handing her the plateful of pastries.

"All right," Willow cheered, accepting.

"Now that that's done," Wilson said. "Have you seen Yugi?"

"Oh yeah," Willow said, fishing in a pocket. "He asked me to give this to you."

Wilson accepted it and allowed the tablecloth to drop back into place as he stood up.

"What are you doing giving her a whole plate of the same thing?" Hannah asked.

"Don't tell her, but she's finally eating her greens," Wilson answered, reading the note.

"Now what?" Hannah asked at his sagging. In response, he handed her the note, watched as she read what he knew it already said.

_Gone sledding._

_Be back soon._

_Don't hit Wilson._

_Love,_

_Yami and Yugi_

"I'm going to kill them," Hannah said, sounding like she was straining herself to keep from yelling. "I am going to _kill them."_

"At least we know it's not my fault this time," Wilson supplied.

"I still blame you for this."

"I would love to know the reasoning as to how. And you," he added, noting Willow peeking out from underneath the table. "You did nothing to stop this?"

"Why would I?" Willow asked.

"I give up," Wilson sighed.

"Hey, they let _me_ know, and I let _you_ know, and they _did_ leave a note, so…."

"You can't kill them," Wilson said to Hannah, who looked like she was trying to prevent a brain hemorrhage. "If you do, we're back to that thing about no heir to the throne, and I don't want a repeat of that. It wasn't fun."

"Grounding then," Hannah said. "Like Gazim was planning with Bakura. Except I'm actually going to follow through with it."

"Good luck with that," Wilson sighed, noticing that they were near the balcony and taking the opportunity to step out and look. Sure enough, there was a line of ice heading straight for the mountains.

Old habits die hard, he supposed.

Now here was hoping Hannah didn't take it out on him, seeing as how he was certain that he _wouldn't_ be so difficult to take out.


End file.
